


Ensuing Complications

by FyrDrakken



Series: Practice Makes Perfect [5]
Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied Underage, Secret Relationship, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2002-04-14
Updated: 2002-04-14
Packaged: 2017-11-14 21:36:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/519756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyrDrakken/pseuds/FyrDrakken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Incomplete sequel to an unfinished story.  Rogue and Logan are keeping their relationship secret because she isn't quite legal yet -- and keeping her new-found control of her powers secret to help hide the relationship.  But they're surrounded by matchmakers who won't leave them alone...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rating: Possibly R/NC17 for sex and occasional rough language.
> 
> Series: Following "Drunken Musings," "Settling In," and "Practice Makes Perfect." Also follows "Just Between Friends."
> 
> Disclaimer: Lots of corporations like Fox and Marvel, and people like Bryan Singer and Hugh Jackman and Anna Paquin, hold more rights in the characters and settings I'm playing with than I do. But I'm even more broke than Marvel, so I'm not worth the time and trouble of suing... The only "profit" I'm getting out of this is getting the demons out of my head without resorting to my family's traditional substance abuse, serial marriages and/or self-mutilation...
> 
> Thanks: To all those whose feedback on my four prior stories (and repeated requests and demands for sequels!) have given the incentive to continue to lose sleep slaving over an overheating laptop! (I'm sorry that I'm probably never going to be finishing this story.) And thanks again to Seperis for her betaing, which I miss... 
> 
> Note:  
> [ ] = Thoughts  
> * * = Emphasis  
> :: :: = Telepathy  
> / / = Rogue reliving a bit of borrowed memory  
> ( ) = Translations or parenthetical remarks

*** * ***

**  
[The thing about secrets,] Kurt mused, dangling from his ceiling perch by  
his tail, [is that sometimes they need to *stay* secret.  You can't  
go talking about them to just anyone.  Even when you want to.   
Even when it bothers you.  Even when it's to someone who really should  
know.] Curling up into a ball of midair misery, he sighed. [*Especially*  
when it's to someone who really should know.  Because it wouldn't make  
him happy to know and it wouldn't make *her* happy for him to know — and  
I want them both to be happy.] Another sigh. [And so I say nothing.]**

**It wasn't a conclusion that pleased him.  Kurt genuinely believed that  
confession *was* good for the soul.  Perhaps not so good for the body  
— especially when said confession might well induce the hearer to shift into  
a massively imposing organic metal form and beat a formerly good friend comatose  
— but getting things out into the open and dealing with them was more to  
his nature than curling up around them and letting them fester in silence.**

**Except that this wasn't just his secret — it was Kitty's, too.  And  
it had been a joint decision not to tell.  Because it had only been  
an impulse, a lapse of reason, a brief aberration that had led to Kitty spending  
the previous night with Kurt.  It hadn't been anything important or  
meaningful.  Certainly nothing worth jeopardizing her relationship with  
Peter over.**

**[Of *course* it wasn't important.  It was with *me*, after all.]**

**Just fuzzy little Nightcrawler, funny and playful and maybe even charming  
but nowhere near to being a — what was the term Bobby used?  Ah — "babe  
magnet."  Certainly not much compared to Peter, who was not only good-looking  
— in a *normal*, "conventionally handsome" way — but large and muscled and  
imposing, yet managed to counterbalance that with a kind quiet nature and  
even a fair degree of artistic ability.  Peter was a rock, strong and  
solid and immovably *there*, stalwart and dependable.  By comparison  
Kurt seemed flighty, insubstantial, almost *shallow* — nothing but airy movement  
and flickering shadow.**

**And Kitty wasn't just smart, she was an actual *genius* — far too intelligent  
not to have accurately compared the pair of them.  Not infallible by  
any means — as proven by her unjustifiable fears of losing Peter to some  
hypothetical and improbable "more mature and desirable" woman, and by her  
willingness to accept Kurt's shy advances — but fully capable of assessing  
the matter in the clear light of day and reaching a well-thought-out conclusion.**

**So her conclusion had been that Peter was better off never knowing what had  
happened in his absence, and that the previous night might as well never  
have happened.**

**Fair enough.**

**Kurt was familiar with the phrase "pity fuck."  Unsurprisingly, he had  
first heard it used by Jubilee (though thankfully not referring to him personally).**

**Kitty had a kind heart — he had already known that, well before she proved  
it to him the previous night.  But she also loved Peter — he knew that  
as well.  And kindness only goes so far.**

**If Peter found out what had happened, he would be upset.  Beyond upset.  
But after the initial explosion, once the shock had worn off and the debris  
had settled, he would accept things.  He could forgive Kurt eventually  
— they might well even remain friends.**

**But he would not forget Kitty's complicity in the matter.  He would  
probably forgive her, eventually — perhaps even remain friends with her as  
well.**

**But their relationship as lovers would be over.**

**Reviewing the situation in his mind, Kurt found nothing to contradict his  
conclusion: Kitty had the most to lose if their secret became public knowledge,  
and so it should be her decision on the matter that held.**

**Which meant that Kurt had a nasty little guilty secret that he couldn't free himself of in good conscience.**

**For a young man raised in a tradition of confession, penance, and absolution, it felt unnatural.**

**Or it should have.  Except that Kurt actually had a bit of experience  
in keeping guilty secrets.  There were one or two things from his past  
that still liked to gnaw at him sometimes late at night, even with the scene  
of the crime an ocean away.**

**So he knew that if you had to, if the people you wanted to confess to weren't  
available, if the absolution you craved was out of reach, then you could  
cram that little secret into a ball and lock it away and go about your day-to-day  
life as though it didn't exist.**

**As though it had never happened.**

**And if sometimes it came back to haunt you, late at night — well then, that  
was your penance.  And you wrestled with the problem by yourself, in  
the long hours before dawn — but in the daylight with your friends and acquaintances  
around you, you said nothing of it.**

**Because it might as well have never happened, in the light of day.**

**And you smiled, because you were with your friends, and you joked, because  
that was the kind of person you were.  Because life needed balance,  
and there were tears enough in the world without needing to go out looking  
for them, but joy was something that you needed to make and take for yourself.   
For yourself and for your friends.**

**And because your friends loved each other, and because that joy was sometimes  
fragile in this world, you did what you could to help them keep it.**

**Even if it kept you up late at night.**

**But it wasn't late at night now — it was early afternoon, and the door was opening and Peter was coming in.**

**"Ah!  I see you survived a weekend camping with the Wolverine!" [That's  
it, practice the "w" sound so it doesn't come out sounding so much like a  
"v" — who knows, enough time and I may be able to actually *sound* like an  
American...] Thinking about the accent was infinitely safer than other things  
to be thinking right now.**

**Peter sighed, dropping his pack on the floor and collapsing into his desk  
chair.  "Da.  I never want to see a forest again."**

**Kurt laughed.  Not *too* hard — just appreciative of the mild joke.  
Didn't want to sound like anything was wrong, after all.**

**"Or a so-called ‘trail' that only exists in the wild imaginings of our so-called  
‘teacher.'  Or a ‘fire' that will not *light*.  Or even a tree."**

**That rated another chuckle — really closer to a snicker.**

**"Do not laugh, my friend.  Your time is coming."  An unsubtle reminder  
that the survival training had been made mandatory for all would-be X-Men  
— and strongly recommended for all the students, whether they planned to  
go mainstream after graduation or not.**

**The laughter stopped.**

**"Not that *you* need to worry that much.  He *likes* *you*," Peter groused.**

**Which made it sound as though Logan disliked Peter, which Kurt knew to be  
untrue.  Instead of pointing this out, he merely remarked, "So you think  
he'll ‘go easy' on me, then?"  Pause.  "Like he does when he's  
teaching ‘self-defense'?"**

**It was a telling blow.  Peter winced in sympathy.  Logan believed  
in pushing his students to find the limits of their physical abilities.   
Kurt had diabolically fast reflexes and appropriately inhuman agility — to  
say nothing of the struggle it had been for him to suppress the instinct  
to teleport out of the way during the initial "no powers allowed" basic combat  
training.  Logan had therefore pushed Kurt *hard*.**

**A sigh.  "He'll probably make me learn to skin rabbits with my teeth or something.  Sleep in a tree.  Eat bugs."**

**Peter shrugged philosophically.  "Why should you be treated any better than the rest of us?"**

**The laughter in response was neither feigned nor forced.  
**

*** * ***

**  
"You should learn when to go  
You should learn how to say no"  
  — "Violet," by Hole  
**

*** * ***

**  
Marie let herself into her shared room, with a heartfelt sigh of relief.  With any luck, she'd be safe from Remy here...**

**[And if not, or if Gumbo decides to lurk in the hall waiting for you to come  
out — well, there's a perfectly good ledge outside the window, and you know  
I'll let you into *my* room any time you want,] her Subliminal Logan noted.   
She smiled a little, at comment and accompanying mental image both, setting  
her textbooks down on her desk.**

**"And what have *you* got to sigh about?" Jubilee grouched from her own desk.  
The calculus textbook open in front of her was explanation enough for her  
uncharacteristically sour mood — Jubes had problems with numbers due to a  
touch of dyslexia (or rather the numeric equivalent, whatever *that* was  
called), and math classes were a struggle.**

**"Being hunted," Rogue answered succinctly.**

**"Ah — avoiding the Cajun?" Kitty inquired from her bed sympathetically.**

**"I don't see *what* your problem is!  He's gorgeous, he's available,  
and he's *hot* for you!  So what's the big deal?"  Jubes by contrast  
clearly had no sympathy whatsoever on this topic.**

**Marie frowned.  "I'm just not interested in Remy."**

**"HAH!" was Jubes' counter, echoed more politely by Kitty's raised eyebrow.  
"I've *seen* you two together — he makes you giggle and blush *way* too much  
for ‘not interested'!"**

**Rogue sighed a little, Subliminal Wolvie growling internally at the essential  
truth of the statement.  "Okay, I think he's cute and all that — but  
I don't want him," she said, as much for her inner Logan's benefit as for  
her roommates.**

**"Because he's not Logan," Kitty said softly.**

**Marie nodded silently, sighing again.**

**"Well, he's *not* Logan — but Logan doesn't want you and Remy *does*, so  
it's past time for you to *get over* Wolvie and move on.  And you've  
got someone really prime to move on *to* — so just get *on* with it, already,  
and quit moping over the wrong guy!  Hot or not, he's dumb enough to  
have been chasing after *Jean* for the past couple of years instead of you,  
so he's not worth it anyway."  Jubi slammed her book shut in frustration  
— whether with her homework or with Marie's recalcitrance being open to speculation.**

**Rogue clenched her jaw shut against her own impulse and Subliminal Logan's  
urgings to, [Tell them they're wrong!  Tell them I love you!  Tell  
them Remy can take those bullshit pickup lines of his and shove ‘em up his  
ass!]**

**Pausing to remind herself why that wasn't a very good idea, irritation with  
her closest female friends be damned, she fell back on Ye Olde Standby Excuse  
— after all, it had worked on Bobby.  "It doesn't matter whether I mope  
or not — no one can get close to me, cute or not, without risking a few weeks  
down in the Medlab."**

**[Except me,] Subliminal Wolvie murmured smugly, before adding, [and if *you* don't put them there, then *I* will!]**

**Except that Jubi and Kitty were both frowning at her.  "That isn't fair,  
Rogue," Kitty said.  "For one thing, you haven't put anybody in a coma  
in years," refusing to let Rogue interrupt with the mendacious claim that  
she hadn't let anyone close enough to do boyfriend-type-stuff with her in  
all of that time, "and in any case that should be *his* choice, if he wants  
to take the chance."**

**Jubes nodded in agreement.  "If he's got the guts to risk it, don't be turning him down just because you're chickenshit."**

**Rogue glared. [Chickenshit? *Chickenshit*!?  Goddammit, Marie, *tell*  
them!] her Inner Logan raged.  She quieted him by pulling up the memory  
of the last telephone conversation with her mother in which she had dared  
to raise the matter of her — maybe, possibly, just as something to consider  
as an option — staying on at Xavier's if the hypothetical time came when  
she could control her gift...  **

**The frustration at the situation a year's worth of layered deceptions was  
tangling her in had to be suppressed in front of these two — but anger at  
her friends' apparent betrayal was legitimate under the circumstances.   
"What about *my* choice?  Don't *I* get an option in this?"**

**"Yeah — if you were making the right decision!  But you're *not*, so *we've* gotta step in for you!"**

**Kitty frowned at Jubilee, stepping between them in her customary role of  
peacemaker.  "It's not so much that we want to run your life for you  
— but maybe you're not doing things for the right reasons?"**

**"And what *would* be the right reasons?" Rogue challenged. [Dammit, how am I gonna convince them?]**

**"Well, if you weren't really interested in Remy — "**

**"HAH!" Jubilee interjected.**

**" — or maybe if Logan really *were* interested — "**

**" — which he's NOT!"**

**Marie clenched her jaw against the protests.**

**" — or it were someone who didn't *know* about your gift — "**

**"But he doesn't!"  Rogue leaped for the first option that seemed defensible.  
"Not really, he's never seen what I can do, he doesn't really believe it's  
that dangerous..."**

**Jubi shrugged fatalistically.  "Well, the first time he tries to steal a kiss he'll learn better, won't he?"**

**Marie's eyes widened.**

**Kitty added, "No offense, but a few weeks in a coma isn't *that* bad — if  
he wakes up okay afterwards, I mean.  And then he'd know better — and  
then you'd have him in your head, see, just like Logan, so then it'd be okay  
and everything would work out..."**

**[WHOA! *Bad* idea!  I don't want *him* in your head, too!]**

**Backed by Subliminal Wolvie's territorial temper tantrum, Rogue's answer  
was perhaps a bit more forceful than necessary.  "I don't *want* him  
in my head!"  A pause at her friends' disbelief, and she added, "I've  
got enough people in here already — as if Logan's nightmares and Erik's concentration  
camp memories weren't bad enough!  Too many, and there won't be any  
room left for *me*...," she finished more softly.**

**Kitty was silenced, but Jubes wasn't giving up yet.  "You've said often  
enough that you know every bit of Logan because of that piece of him in your  
head — so you could get to know Remy that well, and then maybe you'd want  
*him* as well, or instead, or whatever..."**

**[That's what I'm afraid of,] Subliminal Logan whispered uneasily.**

**"Or maybe I'd learn about how he's just trying to get into my pants because  
he loves a challenge, or find out just how many notches he's carved on his  
bedpost before me, and won't be interested anymore."  As an attempt  
to simultaneously quell Jubilee and soothe Inner Logan, it succeeded at neither.   
Subliminal Wolverine whined unhappily at the reference to carving notches,  
remembering his own full and eventful sex life prior to their relationship,  
while Jubes refused to be silenced.**

**"Then at least you'll *know* you don't want him, instead of this crap about  
how you don't want him even though you light up whenever he talks to you."   
With a sardonic flick of her fingers, Jubes added a few sparkles as a visual  
aid on "light up."**

**[Shit.  Jubes is being logical.  Shit, shit, shit.  I don't like this one bit,] Logan warned.**

**[You and me both, sugar,] Marie thought.  [So why the hell am I letting  
her use logic?  This is *my* life, I can just tell her to butt out!]   
"So you're saying I should just — just *touch* him?  Deliberately put  
him in a coma, risk his life if I misjudge and hang on too long, and *definitely*  
piss off the Professor and Mr. Summers and Jean, and probably Storm and Logan  
and Hank as well, just to satisfy my *curiosity*?  Just to see if he's  
planning to drop me like a hot rock if I let him try to *do* me, or if he's  
got any nasty little secrets I don't like — just to save myself the trouble  
of actually dating him to find out?  You really think this is a *good  
idea*?"**

**Amazingly enough, she actually managed to shut Jubilee up for a minute.  
Unfortunately, Kitty picked up on the worst possible statement borne to light  
by the spontaneous upwelling of frustration.  "So it looks like you'll  
have to date him to find out, after all.  It really *is* the safest  
way."**

**Jubilee whooped gleefully at Rogue's speechless glare.  "She's got ya  
there, Rogie!  Now you gotta either date Remy, or touch him!"**

**Unable to express her ire — at least not *here* — Marie angrily grabbed her  
history textbook.  Fighting had proven a hopeless response — time to  
resort to flight.  Refuge — with the one person under this roof who  
would fully understand her feelings at being thrown at the Cajun.  Not  
dignifying her roommates' assertion with a reply, she stalked out.  
**

*** * ***

**  
"well hey do you do judo when they surround you  
a little mental yoga will they disappear  
it's grim but never dubious as motives go  
no matter what it takes she promises a show"  
  — "Purple People," by Tori Amos  
**

*** * ***

**  
It was very lucky for Remy that he *wasn't* lurking anywhere in the halls  
between her room and Logan's — she was *so* not in the mood to deal with  
him right now. [Course, if you told him to get the fuck out of your way —  
and then maybe smacked him in the face with a big heavy book — it *might*  
convince him you weren't interested,] Subliminal Logan suggested with a more  
than academic interest in the matter.**

**The thought of smacking Gambit silly with her history text was not only amusing  
but almost calming. She imagined the joyous heft of the book in her hands  
as she swung it in an exultation of furious centrifugal force culminating  
in an jarring collision of solid wood product and tender bruiseable flesh  
— but as she neared Logan's door, the image of Remy standing before her with  
a hurt, puzzled look in his eyes and blood dripping from his probably-broken  
nose was triggering pangs of quasi-guilt.**

**Okay, so he wasn't any good at taking no for an answer.  And it was  
incredibly frustrating to have to hear even her best friends telling her  
to give up on the man she was in love with and turn to this pretty-faced  
stranger.  But in his own defense, he didn't know that she was anything  
but what she appeared to be — a shy girl with a frightening and uncontrolled  
power that she feared using against those around her.  And available  
— don't forget that one.  Thanks to a year of subterfuge, everyone else  
in the X-Mansion, so far as they considered her love life at all, assumed  
that her isolating mutation and lingering "unrequited" crush on Logan were  
the reasons her apparent love life since coming to Xavier's had been limited  
to a very few dates with Bobby in her first months at the school.**

**Her annoyance returned, and as she opened the door to Logan's room it was  
with the question, "Why won't people believe that someone with a potentially  
deadly mutation prohibiting human contact might actually be better off *without*  
a boyfriend?!"**

**Logan blinked.  "Because you're happier *with* me?"**

**[Better fill me in, sweetheart.  Remember, *I* don't get to listen to what's going in your head,] advised Subliminal Logan.**

**Rogue sighed, closing the door behind her and tossing her book onto the bed  
before flopping down next to it.  "*I* know that, and *you* know that,  
but to Jubi and Kitty you're a thickheaded idiot who keeps chasing after  
Jean Gray, and *I'm* a thickheaded idiot for silently lusting after you when  
there's six feet of redheaded Cajun sex following me around flinging himself  
at my feet."  Logan's eyebrows lowered, his expression darkening from  
Puzzled to Brooding, with underlying suggestions of the Smouldering that  
was never far below the surface.  "And when I tried to pull the ‘mutant  
life-sucking power' card, they told me it should be his choice to risk it.   
They even said I should *deliberately* touch him, so I'd have *him* in my  
head and *know* whether I wanted him or not, and so *he'd* know what he'd  
be risking."**

**Logan's face flashed right past Smouldering and landed on Deeply Pissed, with suggestions that Enraged might not be far distant.**

**"It's okay, sugar.  I managed to convince them what a dumbass idea *that* was."**

**"But?"**

**"But they still think I should at least try dating him."**

**Face still set to Deeply Pissed but with a bit of Brooding Mode sneaking  
back in, Logan rose from the desk chair and made his way to the bed.   
As he seated himself beside her, Marie quickly kicked off her shoes (in deference  
to a lifetime of habit caused by her mother's repeated, "Shoes off the bedspread!")  
as he hooked an arm under her knees, lifting her legs onto the bed and scooting  
her over to make room for himself to lie down beside her.  Nudging his  
knees under her raised thighs and settling his arm around her waist, he asked  
her, "Have you considered telling them?"**

**Marie frowned.  "Yeah, but Jubi can't keep a secret worth a damn.  
And she'll be a lot more hurt if she finds out I told Kitty and left her  
out, than she will if I leave them both in the dark."  Shifting position  
a little and peeling off her gloves, she rested her now-bare hand on his  
arm and turned her head to meet his eyes.  "Besides, they're not the  
whole problem — I had Jean suggesting I get Remy to drive me into town the  
next time I needed a ride instead of ‘bugging you,' and Scott said something  
about me maybe including him in a few of our little ‘practice sessions,'  
since he's old enough to need accelerated training in the self-defense course  
so they can slap him into uniform faster."**

**She felt the vibration before it was audible, the low rumble increasing in  
volume and fury as she finished speaking. [Oh, yeah, *real* good — let Gumbo  
cut in on our two main excuses to get alone time together,] Subliminal Logan  
translated.**

**Marie combed her fingers through one sideburn soothingly.  "But I don't  
*have* to go find him whenever I want a ride somewhere — and as for the practice  
sessions, our excuse for giving me private lessons still holds.  As  
far as anyone knows, no one else can risk touching me."**

**"That's very true, and I'd be *happy* to prove it.  Thrilled.  
Ecstatic, even," Logan growled softly, an unpleasant light coming into his  
eyes.**

**She smiled, continuing to rough up and smooth down the hair along the corner  
of his jaw.  "If he needs accelerated training, it's not like you don't  
have enough spare time to give him a few private classes."**

**The feral light in the hazel eyes brightened, as Wolverine bared a few teeth  
in what was less a smile and more a leer of impending mayhem.  "Of course,  
him not really being a kid and us being in a *hurry* to get him into uniform  
— I may have to be a bit *rough* on him..."**

**Marie debated whether or not to feel sorry for Gambit.  "I'm sure he'll learn very quickly," she murmured soothingly.**

**More teeth became visible. "He'd better."  Logan's eyes went distant  
for a moment, distracted by the joyous prospect of being given a semi-legit  
reason to pound the crap out of Remy, before remembering the earlier track  
the conversation had been on.  "But that's not going to solve the problem,  
will it?  We've got *how* many people trying to hook you two up?"**

**"At least Jubes and Kitty, Jean and Scott, and the Professor was saying something  
about how nice it was to see me with a young man.  Hank said something  
with too many words that I think boiled down to the same thing as the Professor  
said."  Responding to the resumed growl, she added, "If it's any consolation,  
I don't think Storm was actively trying to throw us at each other."**

**"Is there any way to convince these people you just aren't into him?"**

**Marie hesitated, not wanting to bring up words like "giggling" or "lighting up" in regard to Remy, in front of Logan.**

**[Good idea.  A *very* good idea,] Inner Logan said. [I *really* don't want to hear any of that.]**

**"I think — everyone seems to think that I'm refusing him because I'm scared  
of my gift hurting him, or I don't want to be too close to people — or I'm  
still in love with you."**

**Logan half-smirked.  "Which is entirely true.  So what's wrong  
with *that*?"  He frowned, momentary flash of humor gone.  "What  
has a skinny thief from New Orleans — who's *also* too old for the two of  
you to be legal together — got that makes him so much better for you than  
*I* am?"**

**"Aside from the fact that, as far as everyone knows, he loves me and you don't?" she asked facetiously.**

**And the Brooding was back.  "So you mean if we just came clean from  
the beginning we wouldn't have had a problem with Chuckie and the rest of  
them?"**

**She raised an eyebrow.  "Keep in mind that I'm a year older now than  
I was when you and I started out — and Remy's a lot closer to my age than  
you are.  And *really* remember that everyone pushing me at him still  
thinks that I can't be touched skin-to-skin."**

**Logan considered this.  "But if we let people know we're an item, and skipped over the part about your skin for now...?"**

**Marie hesitated.  "We... *could* try that.  But we don't know for  
sure that the folks in charge will like the idea of you and I as much as  
they like me and Remy.  Or that we'd be able to keep the secret about  
my gift once they knew about the other bit.  We might get a little more  
insisting on chaperones, and a little less time alone together."  Big  
pause.  "And then there are my parents...  We've had enough fun  
making sure they haven't run into you on any of their visits — they'd be  
looking be a lot harder to meet ‘my boyfriend Logan' than they have to find  
‘my friend Logan' — and if everyone knew we were seeing each other we might  
even have a few people — like, say, *Scott* — trying to help my parents find  
you rather than steering y'all away from each other..."**

**Logan looked distinctly unsettled.  Although he'd never been a father  
himself (or at least couldn't recall it if he had), he had a pretty good  
idea of how far he fell from the average father's idea of the ideal mate  
for his daughter.  Completely setting aside the drinking, smoking, and  
motorcycle, there was not only the mutant thing (parents having a tendency  
to prefer their children to be nonmutant, he strongly suspected that they  
might prefer them to at least marry nonmutants in the hope of having "normal"  
children) but the age question.  And that wasn't even taking into consideration  
his marked tendencies towards violence and outright murder...  "Your  
parents are *definitely* better off not meeting me."**

**"Agreed.  So we're happier with *them* not knowing."  She paused, struck by a sudden thought.  "What about Remy?"**

**"What *about* him?"**

**"*He's* the big problem — what might happen if we tried telling *him* at  
least that I'm taken and he might as well back off?  Think *that* would  
work?"**

**Logan frowned.  "It didn't stop me from hitting on Jeannie."**

**"Yeah, but you were just doing that to piss off Scott — and then to distract people from all the time you spend around *me*."**

**"So?  I'm sure Gumbo's dumb enough to try to jack with me if he knew  
we were an item — he's bad enough now when he thinks we're just friends.   
Besides," he added, "we'd have to trust him not to tell everyone else about  
us.  Do we know for sure he wouldn't be petty enough to do something  
like sic Scooter on us if you told him you were passing *him* over for *me*?"**

**Marie frowned.  "Good point.  Damn."**

**"So — we either share the news and finally find out exactly *what* they'll  
all do when they find out — or we find some way to deal with Gumbo without  
him finding out."**

**A sigh.  "I don't think I like either option."**

**"Or we break it off and you date Gumbo."**

**Marie turned her head to meet Logan's eyes.  He didn't look at all happy  
at the prospect. [There are *always* other choices,] Subliminal Logan whispered.  
[The question is just whether you can live with them.]**

**"Okay, I *don't* like Option Number Three."  She felt Logan relax slightly.  
"So — we stick together, and tell or not tell..."  A considering pause.   
"I think...  Well, once we tell we can't take it back, but if we decide  
to keep things to ourselves for a while we can still tell if and when we  
need to...  Or maybe even decide just who we want to tell..."**

**Logan regarded her measuringly.  "You sure?  More sneakin' around?"**

**"It's not much fun, but it sure saves a lot of arguing."  Logan shrugged  
the shoulder he wasn't lying on in lopsided agreement.  "Besides, maybe  
if I just keep discouraging Remy he'll give up and move on to someone he's  
got a better chance with..."**

**"Or he'll just keep grabbing what's around whenever he takes one of those  
little trips he goes on, and hit on you whenever he's under Chuckie's roof."**

**"The way everybody assumes *you* do."  Referring in this case to the way Logan hit on Jean, not on Marie.**

**A nod of agreement.  Logan having a certain tendency to wander off to  
Salem Center or even NYC of an evening, he made a deliberate point of coming  
back in the wee hours often enough to preserve the illusion of returning  
from periodic late-night trysts.  Sometimes he snuck Marie out past  
curfew for an evening of pool and a bit of necking on the motorcycle in a  
deserted layby on the way home.  More often he just drank and got into  
fights on his own.  Celibacy was in no way a part of his public image.**

**"Hmm..." Marie considered this.**

**"If he's *really* interested — or even just really having fun chasing after  
you — he may not be that easy to get rid of," Logan warned.**

**"Especially not if he's got half the school telling him stuff like I like  
him, I'm really just shy, I'm not seeing anybody, I'm scared of my gift..."**

**"Mmmmrrr..."  An unhappy grumble.**

**Marie sighed.  "This is a pain."  She unhooked her legs from his,  
scootched over onto her side and leaned her face into his chest.  He  
grumbled in agreement and ran his fingers gently up and down her back.   
"At least I can get away from him *here,* she added.**

**She saw the smile when he hooked his fingers under her jaw and raised her  
face for a kiss.  Combing her fingers back through his hair, she responded  
happily — and more so when he gently pressed her over onto her back for a  
deeper kiss.  Putting her arms around him, she felt him sliding his  
hand up under her shirt.**

****

*** * ***

**  
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to be loved.  
Is there something wrong with me?  
Once in my life I'd like to be really set free.**

**Let me be me."  
  — "B.B.K." by Korn**

*** * ***

**Having checked herself in the bathroom mirror before leaving Logan's room  
to be sure she didn't *look* twenty minutes past wild Wolvie-sex, Marie let  
herself back into her room.  She turned the knob quietly, hoping desperately  
that her roommates would be asleep and she could let herself in without waking  
them.**

**No such luck.**

**Jubi was still at her desk — possibly *still* wrestling with her calculus  
homework.  "Wolvie throw you out?" she asked snidely.**

**"What?"  For a moment Rogue wondered if she'd missed something about her appearance.**

**"Wolvie decide to send you home?"**

**"How'd you know I was with Logan?"**

**"Where else would you be at this time of night?"**

**"Point."**

**"You know that dogtag is the only difference between us, don't you?"**

**"What?"**

**"He makes sure *you* get the dogtag whenever he goes somewhere, but he's  
as likely to take me or Kitty when he goes off to pick up a new kid, and  
he runs all of us into town or to the mall.  He's been teaching all  
of us to fight.  He's not any more likely to turn around and start dating  
you than he is with any of us."**

**Logan had been *extremely* careful not to show any stronger attachment to  
Marie than to either of her roommates — in public, at least.  The dogtag  
was the one exception that he allowed himself.  The upshot of it was  
that Rogue, unable to explain how Logan had just an hour ago been busily  
proving how wrong Jubilee was, had no ready reply.**

**While Marie fumbled for a response, Kitty proved herself to have been awakened  
by the conversation (if she hadn't been awake all along).  "She's right,  
you know.  He's not interested right now, and you're wasting your time  
if you're planning to wait for him till you're old enough and then try to  
convince him you're not his little sister."**

**Stung, Rogue countered with, "At least he's not trying to throw me at the  
first guy who comes along willing to take a chance on the leper!"**

**Jubes rolled her eyes.  "Of course not — he's had that whole alpha male  
thing going with Remy ever since he pulled up on his Harley.  He likes  
anything that pisses Gambit off."**

**Marie silently considered the irony of public opinion — which held that Logan  
and Scott fought because of a woman, while Logan and Remy were trying to  
establish who the biggest shark in this pond was — exactly switching the  
reality of the respective situations.**

**"I know you've been into Logan for *years,*" Kitty said, "but look at it  
this way: If things with you and Remy don't work out, Logan should still  
be there.  And if you and Remy turn out to be meant for each other,  
or Logan hooks up with someone he likes, then you and he were never meant  
to be."**

**"Which you *weren't,*" Jubes grumbled.**

**"Besides," Kitty added with a giggle.  "Given how he feels about Remy,  
he might decide to step in just to keep the two of you apart!"**

**"HEY!  Don't go giving her ideas!  She starts going with Remy just  
to make Wolvie jealous, bad things'll happen..." Jubes snapped.  "Like  
Remy winding up punctured."**

**"Or Remy winding up thinking I want him when I'm just using him to get to Logan?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow.**

**"Please, chica.  You go with Remy, you'll like him.  Try him and see," Jubilee coaxed.**

**"Y'all aren't giving up on this, are you?  What's it gonna take to convince you I don't want to date him?"**

**"Try dating him," Kitty said.  "Go on, give him a chance.  If you  
give him a try — *for real,* not just to shut us up or get Logan's attention  
— and you still don't want him, we'll let you alone."**

**"Really?"**

**"Sure," Jubilee said expansively.  "If you give him a *real* try — and  
if you can convince *us* you're really not interested — then we'll let up  
on you."**

**[Uh-oh.] Marie sensed a world of trouble lay in "giving him a *real* try"  
— and convincing Jubilee and Kitty might be just short of impossible under  
these conditions.**

**"Well?  Do we have a deal?" Jubi prodded.**

**"What?"**

**"You go out with Remy, and if you really try and it doesn't work out then we'll let you alone," Kitty clarified.  "Deal?"**

**"And if I say no?"**

**"Then we'll keep after you!  All day, every day!" Jubes threatened cheerfully.  Marie didn't doubt her for an instant.**

**[Sugar?] she silently asked her Subliminal Logan. [I *hate* this idea, in  
every *possible* way.  But they've got you over a barrel,] he reluctantly  
admitted.**

**[So I go for it?]**

**[I can't see any other way out of this.]**

**"Okay, but only under protest.  Don't try to make this into something  
it's not," she warned, a statement almost guaranteed to be ignored in the  
sense in which it was meant.**

**Jubilee whooped with triumph, indulging herself with a brief (and small-scale)  
burst of pyrotechnic enthusiasm.  "You won't regret this," Kitty said  
with a warm smile.**

**"I already do," Rogue muttered sourly. [I am *so* not looking forward to this. *Or* to telling Logan.]**

**[Neither am I,] growled Subliminal Wolvie.**

**As she rested her history book (unread this evening) on the shelf beside  
her other texts and prepared for bed, she debated the possible tactics for  
convincing Jubilee that the news of Rogue and Logan's couplehood should *not*  
be spread to all and sundry.  The concept of not giving the news to  
the ‘rents was an easy one, and with the very real threat of their yanking  
Marie from school the odds of Jubes giving them the news were fairly low.   
Trying to get her not to spread the news to the adults at the X-Mansion was  
a bit trickier, though the paired arguments of the probability of their telling  
her parents or of their disapproval might work.  It was so easy for  
Rogue to picture Scott and Xavier having matching coronaries at the news  
that a "teacher" had been boffing a student for much of the past year, that  
even Jubilee might be convinced of the idea.**

**But in the final analysis, Marie concluded with a sigh, when it came down  
to not telling people who might have problems with the news (or wind up *causing*  
problems), or not telling people who might pass the news on to the wrong  
people — well, Jubes would come down on the side of maximal gossip, whereas  
Marie had too much Logan in her *not* to be paranoid about sharing.   
Paranoid, and with a strong tendency to keep personal information close to  
the vest that had again been enhanced by her Subliminal Logan.**

**So for the moment, Jubes (and therefore Kitty as well) would have to remain  
in blissful ignorance.  [Dammit.  I could have used the support.   
I could have done without them throwing me at Remy.  And I *definitely*  
could have done with picking Kitty's brains for ideas on how to work this  
— she's a lot better at thinking things through than I am!]**

**Marie (and Subliminal Wolvie) growled softly in frustration.**

****

*** * ***

**  
"If you think the problem is bad now, just wait until we've solved it."  
  — Kasspe  
**

*** * ***

**  
Unfortunately, no ideas for dodging Jubi and Kitty's ultimatum had come to  
her in the night, and the next morning brought problems of its own.**

**The first problem came in the form of the biggest complication in her life  
to date, as she walked out of her morning world history class and into an  
ambush.  Remy LeBeau had been leaning oh-so-casually against a wall  
in the hallway outside Storm's classroom waiting for the bell to ring.   
He nodded amiably at most of the exiting students as they wandered past,  
turning and falling into step with Rogue and her two best friends as they  
came out of the room.**

**"Mornin', beautiful!  Hello, ladies," with a nod towards Jubi and Kitty.  "Mind if I have a word with you?"**

**"She will," Jubilee announced before Marie could respond.  "She'll go out with you."**

**Rogue flashed her erstwhile friend a Look while Gambit blinked in surprise.  "Really?"**

**"Yes," Kitty broke in.  "She's just being shy."  Now Kitty earned an evil glare for her very own.**

**Remy, being on the wrong side of Rogue to see the full effect of her Evil  
Eye, cautiously followed up on the perceived opening.  "Friday night  
at seven, out to somewhere nice.  Down in the City."**

**"She'll be ready," Jubilee promised.**

**"Right. Well.  I'll... I'll see you then," Remy cautiously confirmed.**

**Which left Marie in an iffy position.  Come right out and say, ‘No,  
I still don't want to go out with you.  Ignore them, they're full of  
it'?  Bringing her two best friends down on her wasn't a consideration  
at the moment, as angry as she was at them, but she had a hard time giving  
Remy a strong rejection.  She was just always going to be more comfortable  
making excuses than giving someone a flat no.  But with her two so-called  
friends there to contradict any excuse she could make, her options were reduced  
to ‘no' or...**

**She shrugged diffidently.**

**"All right!" Remy said more cheerfully, letting the three of them head into Hank's biology class.**

**As Rogue took her seat, her ire at the pair accompanying her was deflected  
by a new thought. [How the hell am I going to tell Logan?]**

**[I'll *kill* him,] Subliminal Logan warned. [Or *those* two.  Either.  Both.  All...]**

**Inner Wolvie merely growled balefully.  
**

*** * ***

**  
Lunch falling right after biology in her current schedule, Marie took advantage  
of the first available opportunity to talk to Logan privately. [If he hears  
about my little date with Remy *before* he hears it from me...] Shaking off  
Kitty and Jubes as they left the classroom after the bell, she told them  
she had something she needed to go do.  She caught the disappointed  
looks on their faces but ignored them. [Probably wanted to talk about my  
"date" and what I'm going to wear or something,] she groused to herself.  
[Or worse yet, they want me to sit with Remy and get all lovey-dovey.]**

**Remembering Logan's Wednesday morning class, she took a chance and headed  
for his room.  And turned out to have guessed correctly, he just having  
come out of the shower when she knocked on his door and stuck her head in  
without waiting for an answer.  "Mind taking me on a burger run?   
We need to talk."**

**Picking up his shirt and putting it on, "Sure.  Just let me get my shoes  
on."  Sitting on the bed with a pair of clean socks and his banged-up  
old boots, he ventured, "Something wrong?"**

**"Kind of, but I think we need to get out of here before we talk about it."**

**Accepting this at face value, he didn't say anything further.  Leaving  
her books in his room, she followed him down to the garage and to his Harley.**

**She didn't break the silence until they were pulling into the parking lot  
at the Salem Center McDonald's, when she suggested getting something to go  
and finding somewhere to pull over and eat on the way back.  When he  
turned to look over his shoulder at her, she added, "This is too public."   
He didn't say anything, but she felt him tense up.**

**Drive-throughs sometimes being touchy about motorcycles, they had to go inside.  
Once out, she held the bag while he drove, until they reached a generally-deserted  
layby on the way home that was of some familiarity to the both of them.   
Rolling to a halt and shutting off the engine, Logan turned to Marie.   
"Just what was so touchy that you couldn't tell me about it back at the Mansion  
or in a public place?"**

**Pussyfooting around trying to "break it to him gently" was only going to  
irritate him further.  "Jubilee and Kitty set me up with a date with  
Remy for this Friday."**

**"*WHAT*?!" was the best Logan could manage for a verbal response before the Wolverine took over with a long, rolling growl.**

**Speaking loudly to be heard over the rumbling, she went on, "They cornered  
me last night after I got back from your room.  Said they weren't going  
to let me make a big mistake by turning him down and wouldn't let me off  
the hook unless I gave him a fair chance before deciding I didn't want him."**

**The growling increased in volume.**

**"It came down to a choice between going along with them or spilling my guts.  
And I really *didn't* think telling Jubilee was the way to go.  So I  
figured if I can convince him I'm not worth the trouble after all, I might  
be able to pull this off."**

**"How?"  The word was snarled out, but Marie chose to be optimistic about the shift to verbal communication.**

**"Oh, let's see — what would convince *you* a chick wasn't worth being around?  
Or at least, wasn't going to be putting out?  I'm thinking dressing  
as non-sexy as I can, not letting him touch me *at all*, not talking to him  
any more than I can possibly help..."**

**"Some date."  From a growl to a grumble — his mood seemed to be improving.**

**"I don't want to be going out with him — and I'm hoping he'll figure that out."**

**"And yet you agreed to go out with him?"**

**"No, Jubes and Kitty agreed for me."**

**"Hmmph."**

**"Feel free to take it out on them."**

**"I think it's going to be a very *long* time before I take either one of them out on a pick-up.  Or to the mall."**

**"Good start.  Don't forget combat lessons, either."**

**"I think I'll have a couple of ‘volunteers' in mind whenever I need to demonstrate  
a really nasty move for the next month or two at least..."  
**

*** * ***

**  
With her plan in mind, Rogue selected her outfit for her — ugh! — "date"  
carefully.  Blouse — loosely-fitting and buttoned up to her neck, showing  
as little cleavage as possible and in a drab shade of dove grey. (A Christmas  
gift from her grandmother, apparently still operating under 1950s standards  
of what was considered appropriate attire for a young lady.) Skirt — dark,  
calf-length and loose, to show as little leg as possible.  Makeup —  
absolutely none.  Hair — pulled back into a ponytail.  Gloves,  
check, scarf, check — both in black, making her outfit boringly monochromatic.   
Marie studied her reflection critically. [Not bad.  "Mousy Social Reject."   
Wish I had some glasses.]**

**The problem arose when she left the bathroom and had to pass her roommates.**

**"WHOA! Chica, what the *hell* do you think you're doing?  Don't tell  
me you're wearing *that* out where people can see you?"**

**Rogue looked down at her outfit "innocently."  "Something wrong with it?  I don't have any stains on it, do I?"**

**"‘Something *wrong* with it'?  ‘*Something WRONG with it*'?!"**

**Before Jubes could start frothing at the mouth, Kitty intervened.  "It's  
a little — drab.  Don't tell me you're wearing that on your date with  
Remy?"**

**"Damn straight.  He said he's taking me somewhere nice, and I wanted  
to look like an adult, not a mallrat or a tramp."  Which was a low blow  
aimed directly at Jubes' idea of proper date-night attire, but Marie was  
hoping the "adult" comment would help justify her wardrobing decisions.**

**"‘Somewhere nice'?  He's taking you somewhere pricey, you mean?  
Dammit, girl, for a place like that you dress *up*, not like a refugee from  
an all-girl school!  Chica, you look sexier in the stuff you wear every  
day."  Crap.  The value of maturity was plainly lost on Ms. Lee.**

**Time to shift tactics, then.  The best defense being a good offense,  
and Subliminal Logan being helpfully surly, Marie let her "friend" have it.   
"God *damn* it, I'm only going *on* this date because you two bullied me  
into it!  I am *not* putting out for him no matter *how* pricey a dinner  
he tries to feed me and I am *not* walking out of here looking like a slut  
because that's how *you* think I should dress.  It's my ‘date' and I'm  
the one who's gonna have to deal with keeping his hands off me all night  
so just leave me the hell alone!"  With that she stormed out, making  
a point of slamming the door behind her.**

**It would have been both embarrassing and convenient to discover Remy waiting  
for her in the hallway, having plainly heard her outburst.  Whether  
fortunately or not, he was actually waiting for her down in the lobby and  
therefore oblivious to her parting commentary to her roomies.**

**The look on his face when Remy saw her outfit did her heart good, though.  
He covered his reaction quickly, but for just a moment the naked chagrin  
on his face as he gave her appearance a quick once-over satisfied all of  
her hopes.  "Rogue, when I said I'd take you somewhere ‘nice' I didn't  
mean, uh...  You look very... nice... but you could have just worn normal  
‘date' clothes."**

**Marie gave him a faintly disapproving look.  "These *are* my normal  
‘date' clothes." [Not counting what I wear around Logan — but then, we're  
kind of beyond dating.]**

**Unfortunately, politeness — or charm, whichever — resurfaced and Remy dropped  
the subject.  "All right, then — shall we?"  He gave her a smile  
and offered her the crook of his arm.**

**[Damn.  I was hoping for an argument.] Ignoring the offered arm, Rogue  
made a point of giving her ‘date' a wide berth on the way to the door, keeping  
well out of reach for casual touching.  She managed to beat him to the  
door, denying him the chance to hold it open for her.**

**In the garage, there was another brief dispute as Rogue refused to ride his  
motorcycle and insisted on taking one of the cars instead.**

**"Chere, you ride behind Logan on *his* cycle all the time."**

**"That's with Logan.  With *you*, we take a car."**

**Again, he plainly decided that he'd be better off not arguing, shrugging  
and going for the cabinet where the keys were stored.  He refused to  
give way on the choice of cars, though, insisting on taking a convertible  
and never mind her complaints that it would "mess up my hair." (To which  
he replied with an eloquent look, conveying the opinion that she hadn't taken  
enough trouble fixing her hair to worry about it getting windblown but without  
actually being so rude as to *say* so.)**

**Marie was actually satisfied with his choice of vehicles, only regretting  
that she hadn't been given the opportunity for a nice, date-ending argument.   
But the convertible was nice, and she was able to pretend to "sulk" about  
being overruled on her stated preference for the BMW. [Best thing is, you  
won't be pressed up close to Gumbo for the whole damn drive,] was Inner Logan's  
verdict on the matter.**

**The ride passed pleasantly enough, marred only by Rogue's refusal to respond  
to any conversational gambits on Gambit's part.  Unfortunately when  
she claimed to be listening to the radio he turned it up — and it was a decent  
station.  By the time they reached New York City, she was enjoying the  
ride and the tunes too much to remember to maintain her false sullenness.**

**More problems occurred at the restaurant.  The food was good, for one  
thing, and Remy turned out to be regrettably charming in concentrated doses.   
Rather than getting the intended point — that his date was cranky and unwilling  
to be out with him at all — he seemed to have categorized her standoffishness  
as a combination of shy inexperience and worry about her gift, and set himself  
to soothing her worries.  She didn't want to talk — fine, he'd handle  
the "conversation" himself. (And make it entertaining, too.) She didn't want  
to be touched — fine, he'd keep his distance. (At least until she got used  
to him.) She reacted badly to compliments — fine, he'd space them out to  
keep from making her too uncomfortable. (But he'd keep them up until the  
idea finally sank in that he found her extremely attractive and desirable.)**

**Marie might have really hated the idea of being on a date with a man so obviously  
well-practiced in slipping past female defenses, had she not already had  
one of that type both in her head and in her bed. (Well, not actually in  
*her* bed — in *his* bed, or in a motel bed, or in the backseat of a car,  
or... you get the idea.) But Logan was extremely well-known to her even before  
they started "seeing" one another, and neither mystery nor deception had  
played large parts in their relationship.  There was something slightly  
intriguing about sitting across a table from an enigma of undiscovered habits  
and propensities.  For example, she really *didn't* know for sure whether  
his attraction was to her or merely to the challenge she presented.**

**[And you don't want to find out,] Subliminal Logan warned when her thoughts towards her date began to be less than irritated.**

**Somewhat alarmed at the realization that she was actually enjoying herself,  
Rogue felt briefly guilty before deciding, [Screw it.  I'm stuck with  
him for a few hours, I might as well enjoy myself.  I'm *still* not  
fucking him, after all.] A thoughtful pause, as she studied Remy.  [Even  
if he *is* kind of nice.]**

**Inner Wolvie snarled unhappily.  
**

*** * ***


	2. Ensuing Complications (part 2)

*** * ***

**"I can't seem to get through,  
get through to you,  
and I would do anything to keep you  
from going through what you will go through."  
  — "When," by Bell  
**

*** * ***

****

**[Five months to go.  Only five months till the beginning of June.  
Less than five months.  Practically four months...]**

**Unfortunately, four months didn't sound much better than five.  Especially not after a day like today.**

**For one thing, Jubilation Lee, Guardian of Troubled Relationships (especially  
those that she had campaigned for, bullied roommates into, and essentially  
created out of thin air) had attached herself to Rogue's elbow on the way  
out of Hank's biology class, no doubt to ensure that Marie found herself  
eating lunch beside the "boyfriend" she was trying to avoid.  When Rogue  
refused to be steered towards the cafeteria, muttering something about going  
to lunch with Logan, Ms. Lee rather cheekily invited herself along.  No doubt  
Jubes merely thought to minimize Remy's pique at being left hanging for lunch  
by being able to assure him that Logan and Marie had been adequately "chaperoned"  
— not that Remy had to worry about any competition from Wolvie, ha ha. (Her  
*stated* intention was merely to get some nice greasy fast food into her  
system.)**

**The tooth-grinding part of it being of course that Jubes' unwanted presence  
was in fact preventing the nice tension-relieving nooner Marie had been counting  
on.**

**Worst of all, Logan merely shrugged off Jubi's tagging along with a philosophical  
quirk of his eyebrow.  As Marie could tell, he found lunch with Marie and  
Jubilee — even sans sex — to be infinitely preferable to Marie having lunch  
with Remy.**

**So the only thing she could do was to plow through her combo meal in stony  
silence — which Jubes was of course too busy filling with perky chatter to  
notice.**

**Back at the school, classes allowed her to continue to evade Gambit — until mid-afternoon, at least.**

**By about four pm, Marie was in her room.  Alone.  For once.  And taking advantage  
of Kitty and Jubes' absence to get as much homework as possible done before  
heading for Logan's room after dinner to "study."**

**It never occurred to her to question the convenient timing of her roommates'  
mutual absence until the door opened and Remy walked in.  Without knocking.   
Closing the door, he leaned back against it and waited.**

**No one would normally walk into the room without knocking but someone who  
lived there — with the exception of Logan, who never did so except when he  
knew that Marie was alone in the room.  Absorbed in the logic of a heredity  
question, Marie mentally catalogued the sound of the door as "someone who  
belongs here" and didn't bother to look up, until the silence registered.   
Kitty or Jubes would say something to her, move across the room, drop things  
on beds and turn the radio on.  Logan would say something, or walk up to  
her.  Someone who just walked in and stopped, though...**

**She looked up.**

**Remy half smiled.  "Took you long enough to notice me.  What if I'd been some Humans First goon sneaking up on you?"**

**"They wouldn't have gotten this far without triggering alarms or getting caught by Logan or the Professor or somebody."**

**"You don't know, could be some sneaky ones..."  He started to walk across the room, still smiling slightly.**

**"If they were that sneaky, I wouldn't have even heard them open the door."**

**"Could have been surprised, not expecting anyone to be in here..."**

**"Would have been careless, making noise anyway.  Couldn't be very good at their jobs."**

**"Still could be a bit dangerous, for a little thing like you here all alone — "**

**"All alone in a house full of dangerous mutants in the center of a massive  
state-of-the-art security system.  Quit pretending like I'm careless or helpless  
and tell me what you're doing here."**

**He shrugged expansively.  "Just trying to talk to you."**

**"In my bedroom.  Alone."**

**He smiled provocatively.  "I won't say I don't appreciate the circumstances..."  
He seated himself on her bed, leaning back to rest against the headboard  
as though he had every right to be there.**

**Inner Wolvie snarled.  Though Logan had never actually been in this particular  
bed, he considered it his simply by virtue of being where his Marie slept  
when she wasn't with him.  Having another male on it — especially *this*  
hated rival — even while Marie was a good ten feet away — didn't sit well  
with him at all.**

**Marie set her teeth, forcing back the growl that tried to bubble out.  "Well,  
*I* don't appreciate them.  This is my *bedroom*.  My *private* room — "  
conveniently ignoring the two girls she shared it with " — My *boudoir*,  
if that word's a little easier for you to understand.  And I didn't invite  
you in."**

**"No, but you damned sure didn't make it easy to find you anywhere else.  
And we need to talk.  So I had to hunt you down."**

**"So talk." [Go ahead.  Give me a reason to storm out.  I dare you.  Please.]**

**He sat up, the impish smile disappearing.  "You keep trying to push me away  
when you don't really want to.  And I know why.  And it ain't because of  
your skin, either."**

**[Oh, hell.  Calm, keep calm, no emotion...  Logan!  Come on dammit, *you*  
meditate, help me out here...!] "Why?" [Calm, calm, don't freak out, he might  
not actually know — he's a little empathic, not actually a telepath...]**

**"You keep fending me off because you're holding out for Logan."**

**She kept very still. [True.  But how much else does he know...?]**

**"Because you think you're *obligated* to him.  Because he saved your life.  
Because he isn't afraid of you, of your skin — and because he's damn near  
unkillable, so you don't have to worry about hurting him as much as anyone  
else."**

**[True.  All of it.  As far as it goes.  But anyone could guess that much...]**

**[Don't calm down too much,] Inner Logan warned. [You relax now, he knows he guessed wrong, or missed something big.]**

**"But cherie — he doesn't love you.  He doesn't want you.  I'm  
sorry to say it, but it's true.  You have to realize it."**

**[No it's not!] The frustration at the oft-repeated "truth" that so many of  
her friends seemed compelled to convince her of "for her own good" was easily  
mistaken for the stubborn denial of a deluded young woman refusing the truth  
she didn't want to believe.  So Marie encouraged the emotion, let it build,  
let it fill her eyes with mute ire.**

**Picking up on her mood, Remy softened his tone, balancing it between soothing  
and implacable.  "And having me around hasn't changed his mind about that.   
He's just gotten dog-in-the-mangerish about you because he hates me, and  
maybe cause having a pretty girl following him around feeds his ego."**

**[As if you didn't know all about ‘pretty girls feeding your ego'!] Resentment  
was a natural reaction here.  Marie didn't try to suppress it.**

**"But cherie, don't waste your time thinkin' he's gonna turn to you one day  
and say you're the one for him. *He's* been wastin' his time panting after  
Jean, not you."  Softening his voice, "And you deserve so much better  
than to be the one somebody *settles for,* after he gives up on the one he  
*really* wants..."  He moved towards her, no doubt planning some reconciling  
gesture of affection.**

**Leaving the growling to Inner Wolvie and the frustrated protests to Subliminal  
Logan, Marie was able to come up with a response all her very own.   
"Gee, Remy, if that's such good advice then maybe you should take it yourself."   
A pause to let the shot register, and then Inner Logan nudged her on to,  
"Of course, if all you're looking for is a quick fuck then being second choice  
doesn't really matter, does it?"**

**Satisfied that the enemy had been stunned by that one-two combination, Marie  
prepared to flee the scene.  Only the fact that the genetics textbook  
was still under her hand caused her to bring it with her, and she would have  
left her homework behind had it not gotten caught between the pages when  
she slammed the book closed. (As it was, she completely forgot her history  
book, despite the assigned chapter that hadn't even been glanced over yet.)**

**It only took her a second to close the book and sweep it into the crook of  
one arm, but the delay and the warning signs of leave-taking were enough  
to unfreeze Remy.  Moving to stand between her and the door, "Rogue.   
I want more than that from you.  You should know that by now.   
Please.  You have to realize — "**

**Cutting him off, "Mostly what I realize is that you're telling me it's okay  
for *you* to be second choice if it gets *me* to settle for *you*, but it's  
not okay for *me* to hold out for Logan and hope that eventually he quits  
moping after Jean and decides I'm worth picking up after all." **

**He looked inclined to argue, but she wasn't going to stick around for it.**

**The question had kept her up nights sometimes, wondering: If she ever found  
herself in a situation where she touched Remy — whether by accident or because  
he decided to be reckless and force the issue — would she be willing to hurt  
him, leave him comatose and add his personality to the jumble in her skull,  
all just to protect her secret for a few months longer?**

**Right now, the question was easy to answer.**

**Remy didn't need empathy to read the bulldozing expression on her face.  
It moved him out of her way more effectively than any of the body throws  
Logan had taught her.**

**Except that he followed her.  And would have kept talking and delaying  
her all the way to her chosen refuge — and if Logan wasn't already there  
(an iffy proposition, this early in the evening), then Remy might be able  
to actually keep her from the safety of The Room He Dared Not Enter.**

**He had to be driven off.**

**She was never sure whether the comment came from some nonvocal prompting  
of Subliminal Logan, or from a hitherto unsuspected store of inner bitchery.   
"That's it, isn't it?  You're afraid he'll finally get tired of holding  
out for Jean — or decide I'm old enough to be interesting — " skating a bit  
close to the truth there, especially if one substituted "legal" for "interesting"  
" — or get so pissed off at you he decides to take your ‘girlfriend' right  
out from under you?"  Not quite daring to use the phrase "supposed girlfriend"  
in front of Remy, she settled for enclosing the word in sarcastic verbal  
quotes.**

**He stopped dead in the hallway.**

**She didn't start running until she was out of sight around the bend in the  
hall.  It was imperative that she be safely behind the closed door of  
Logan's room before Remy caught up with her.  Except that he didn't  
seem to be following her at all.**

**Logan's room was of course unlocked.  He had been given a key, which  
remained unused in a drawer.  His sense of smell being enough to identify  
the perpetrators of any unauthorized entries in his absence, the knowledge  
of certain retribution was more effective than any cheap and easily picked  
door lock.**

**Letting herself in, Marie closed the door behind herself with a sigh of relief.  
Logan wasn't in yet.  Laying the textbook on his desk — Lord knew she  
wouldn't feel calm enough to finish her homework anytime soon — she dropped  
onto his bed with another sigh.**

**It wasn't really the fight that was sticking with her — or rather, it wasn't  
anything Remy had said that worried her.  It wasn't even that he had  
rather neatly twigged to the fact that Rogue was actually resisting him because  
she preferred Logan.  It was that wounded look on his face as she left  
him standing dumbstruck in the hallway outside her dorm room.**

**It wasn't that she actually *disliked* the man.  Heh.  Truth be  
told, if he'd gotten to her first — or even before Logan had gotten around  
to starting in on that indirect courtship they'd had — well, she might be  
reasonably content with Gambit today.  Granted, with no control over  
her gifts — probably.  Possibly.  But *still* — she might well  
have actually been happy with Remy.  Had things worked out otherwise.**

**But the way things had worked out, she was with Logan.  And loved him.  
And — she didn't like to admit it even to herself, and damned sure didn't  
ever want to say anything of the kind to Logan, but — well, there was mutual  
obligation.  Not just for nearly killing each other, or for him saving  
her life a few times — but for all the control she now had over her powers.   
That was all due to him and his practice sessions.**

**So.  She and Logan had ties.  Shared history, debts and mutual  
obligations that had been met — on his part, at least.  An existing  
relationship.  Chemistry and affection and outright love.  And  
she and Remy had — well, due to the efforts of the combined population of  
the school (with a few notable exceptions, like Logan and Ororo and Kurt),  
she and Remy had an "existing relationship."  And definite chemistry  
— on both sides, she had to admit.  But.  She couldn't genuinely  
explore matters with Remy without breaking things off with Logan. **

**And she wasn't an idiot.  A naive optimist, or one with a short attention  
span when it came to relationships, might have thought that she could try  
Remy out for a while, and go back to Logan if and when Remy didn't turn out  
to be a keeper.  But even without Inner Logan to tell her so, Marie  
had a strong suspicion that if she and Logan broke things off, for whatever  
reason, he would hit the road.  To spare himself pain, to spare her  
pain, to make a clean break.  And he wouldn't plan on coming back.   
Ever. **

**And really, what Remy was telling her *would* have been good advice, had  
the carefully crafted external appearance of her and Logan's relationship  
been actuality.  And what she had told him was equally true — that he  
deserved to be someone's second choice no more than she did.**

**So.  As much of a pain in the ass as the situation could be sometimes  
— *most* times — it really *was* the best choice for all concerned for her  
to stick with Logan, and for Remy to give up and move on.**

**Even though what she wanted to do the most right this instant was to go back  
and find Remy and try to soothe that hurt look away.**

**But she had to tough it out.**

**[Five months to go.  Only five months till the beginning of June.  
Less than five months.  Practically four months...]  
**

*** * ***

**  
**

*** * ***

****

**You would have thought that a house full of telepaths would be an impossible  
place to keep a secret.  And under most circumstances that would probably  
be true.  But Xavier's School for the Gifted was most decidedly *not*  
"under most circumstances" (assuming that the phrase could even be legitimately  
*applied* to any group containing multiple telepaths).  When the strongest  
mindreader under the roof was not only the man in charge but also possessed  
of an almost romantic set of ethical principles that he tried to drum into  
his students' heads, eavesdropping on others' thoughts became a major household  
no-no — a rule that Xavier was both willing and able to enforce.  And  
just to help prevent excessive leakage "for the benefit of those still unused  
to controlling their mental gifts" (and not-so-incidentally to reduce the  
tempting opportunity to snoop), techniques for shielding one's thoughts were  
part of the standard curriculum for non-telepaths, whether future X-Man or  
mainstream-bound.  For an actual mindreader, not only was the shielding  
more rigidly practiced, but incursions past the mental barriers could be  
more easily detected.**

**But the strongest mental shields in the world can't block one's scent, and  
prevention of telepathic eavesdropping won't affect the ability to overhear  
verbal conversation.  Which was how, even in a house full of telepaths  
and the odd empath, Logan was the first person to realize why Betsy's reaction  
to Warren's advances was so... lukewarm.**

**Warren pretty much got on Logan's nerves.  That was rarely difficult  
to do, but in this case it was actually a fairly legitimate reaction on Logan's  
part.  The Angel had rapidly classified the Wolverine as a psychotic  
fit of rage just waiting to happen, and had flatly refused to be on any team  
that included Logan as a member.  Since Warren's return to Xavier's  
school had occurred when enough new members were joining the group to allow  
for the division of the X-Men into two teams, this demand could be met.   
But if Feathers disliked him, then Logan was more than willing to return  
the favor.**

**So Logan might have considered Betsy's cool reaction to Warren to have been  
merely a sign of good taste on her part — had he not one day passed very  
closely downwind of Betsy standing with Ororo.  The two women were standing  
in the hallway discussing some movie or another one of them had seen, but  
that wasn't what caught Logan's attention.  He actually broke stride  
for a second to confirm what the first whiff had suggested to him, then passed  
on his way with a private chuckle. [Guess Stormy's got more of a chance with  
Bets than Tweety ever will...]**

**Of course, as Hank might have said, two points do not a statistical sample  
make.  Or to be more blunt, just because Betsy was interested in one  
particular woman while one man left her cold didn't *necessarily* mean she  
was a lesbian.  It was certainly *interesting*, but...**

**Logan, being Logan, filed it away in his memory without being bothered by  
the idea one way or the other.  For him, the relevant question had never  
been whether a woman was attracted to men or to women, but whether she was  
attracted to *him* or not.  Since Betsy wasn't interested (even had  
he actually been available), it didn't much matter *who* she preferred to  
him. **

**At least, not until he found himself struggling to find a plausible excuse for having turned Jean down.**

**Because the day after sending Jean from his room, he started stalking Betsy.  
**

*** * *  
  
**

*** * ***

****

**Logan spent a good hour just — tracking Betsy around the mansion.  Where  
she had been, who might have been in the room with her at the same time,  
what they might have been doing — and especially, what sort of mood she might  
have been in while dealing with whom.  Shortly before lunchtime, he  
decided that his conclusions were, if not *entirely* certain, at least reasonably  
warranted.**

**Satisfied with his information-gathering, he shifted from passively trailing  
his prey to actively bringing her to bay.  He cornered his quarry in  
the gym, where she was just exiting the women's locker room after a round  
of aerobics.**

**"Mind if I talk to you for a minute?  In private?"**

**He led her away from the others in the gym, down the hall to his office.  
She followed him silently, probably assuming it had something to do with  
her self-defense training — after all, what else could he possibly have to  
say to her? (He had made the obligatory pro forma pass at the new babe within  
a day or two of meeting her, and been rejected with the automatic ease of  
long practice.  Even if his play for her *had* been genuine, Logan would  
have wasted no further time on a woman whom his senses warned felt such a  
complete lack of sexual interest in him.  Given his covert relationship  
with Marie, he had felt no regrets at completely dropping any flirtation  
with Betsy.)**

**Gesturing her into the office first and into a chair, he closed the door  
behind them and leaned against it, thereby preventing the attempt to angrily  
storm out that he was anticipating.  "Is there any reason you've been  
going out with Worthington when you're really more into chicks?"**

**"WHAT?!  I'm not — I — How *dare* you!"**

**He shrugged diffidently.  "Look, I really don't give a damn *whose*  
bed you're wanting into — I was just wondering if there's any particular  
reason you seem to feel like you have to go out with a guy who just doesn't  
do it for you?"**

**"I — What makes you think Warren ‘doesn't do it for me'?  And what the hell makes it any of your business, anyway?"**

**"I don't think, I *know*.  Say whatever you want, your scent doesn't  
lie.  And it *isn't* any of my business — but I've got a reason for  
wanting to know."**

**"What possible reason — "**

**"Uh-uh.  First you tell me why you're playing with Feathers."**

**"I'm *not* ‘playing with Fea—' with Warren, I'm... seeing him."**

**"Ah.  My mistake.  You're right.  You're not playing with  
him — but *he* really wants to play with *you*.  And you're just ‘seeing  
him'."**

**She refused to respond, glaring at her bracelet as though it had personally  
offended her and adjusting the lie of one of the charms dangling from it.**

**"But probably not seeing as much of him as he'd like to show you, I'm thinking.  
So again, why bother?  Why put up with him if you don't want him?"**

**The anger had faded from sullen silence to a sort of passive gloom as she  
realized that her display of outrage had failed to convince him.  "It's...  
easier."**

**"Easier?  To play along with some guy who's trying to get into your pants?  Easier than what?"**

**"Just... easier."**

**"Look, if you're worried about coming out of the closet or whatever, everybody's  
pretty tolerant here.  Well, okay, Scooter's a dick, and some of the  
kids need a bit more sense knocked into them, but — "**

**She shook her head, silently refusing.**

**"Okay.  So you're wanting to keep this to yourself right now.  
And you're putting up with a boyfriend — what, to make yourself look straight?"**

**"To make myself look... taken."  Very quietly, eyes lowered.**

**And as soon as she said it, he realized that she had a point.  Because,  
lord, but did she draw attention.  It wasn't just the husky voice and  
smouldering eyes that seemed to belie the cool precision of the upper-class  
British accent that had such an effect on this side of the pond — it was  
the long legs and fluid grace of a woman trained to use her body as a display  
piece long before anyone came in and taught her to use it as a weapon instead.   
But as the girlfriend of Warren Kenneth Worthington III (possessor of looks,  
charm, an ungodly amount of money, and a rather attractive mutation to top  
it all off with), she had been out of reach.**

**"So.  Better to deal with just one guy you don't want, than have to  
fend off all of them?"  At her delicate nod, he smiled slightly.   
"I think we can help each other out here." **

**Warily, she raised her eyes to meet his.**

**"See... my life has gotten real... complicated, lately."  The smile  
turned slightly rueful at the understatement.  "Without getting into  
the details, let's just say that it'd make things a *hell* of a lot easier  
if I looked like I'd just gotten a new girlfriend — but I don't actually  
*want* a new girlfriend.  I just want someone who'd *act* like one.   
In public, at least," he added, seeing the suspicion on her face.**

**"Which would mean — what, exactly?"**

**"Oh, you break it off with Flyboy, and we tell everybody we're an item now.  
I don't try to get into your pants, and I don't care whose bed you're really  
in — as long as you don't let everybody *know* about it, I mean.  No  
making out with Ro at the breakfast table or anything like that."  He  
smiled again, at her slight blush.**

**"That's *it*?"  Disbelievingly.**

**"Pretty much.  We might have to go out on a few dates..."  Seeing  
the look on her face, he hastily added, "Or at least fake them.  Go  
out, I drop you off somewhere, you call me when you need a ride home, and  
let everybody assume we were together the whole time."**

**"That sounds like a lot of trouble..."**

**"You're happier with a guy who's genuinely *trying* to get into bed with  
you?"  She looked rueful.  "Besides, not for that long — a month  
or two.  Three, tops."**

**She frowned at him.  "So you're telling me that you want me to *pretend*  
to be seeing you instead of Warren for just a few months, and you claim that  
you won't be spending all that time trying to shag me, or even date me properly?"**

**"Well, maybe one or two dates.  Just to get to know each other..."  
Realizing that he wasn't exactly allaying her suspicions, he added, "It's  
going to look weird if I don't know anything about my girl.  But we  
can just — talk or whatever — right here at the school.  We don't have  
to actually go have dinner together or anything."**

**"And what exactly would *I* be getting out of this arrangement?"**

**Amused, "Aside from having someone vicious and short-tempered following you  
around threatening any guys who even *look* at you too long?  Well,  
the girls have given me a lot of experience at being a chauffeur, handyman  
and workhorse, and I can promise you some pretty intensive training sessions  
if you *want* to seriously improve your combat skills.  I mean, what  
were you getting out of Tweety, aside from looking taken?"**

**"‘Tweety'?  Oh..."  Betsy gave Logan a careful up-and-down assessment.  
"Well, he was rather — pretty.  He made a fetching escort."**

**"Hey, I can clean up nice.  I don't usually *do* it, but..."  He  
left the sentence unfinished, the unspoken offer clear, and refrained from  
sighing at the prospect of the kinds of society events Betsy might be requiring  
an "escort" for.**

**"Hmm.  Why for only a few months?"**

**"What?"  Stalling for time to think — he knew damned well what she was referring to.**

**"Why would this arrangement last no longer than three months?"**

**"Because after then, my life gets a lot less complicated." [Or maybe even more so — but the sneaking around part will be over.]**

**"Hmm.  That's not much of an answer."**

**"No, it's not."**

**"What happens if I say no?"**

**A slight pause for thought.  "I guess you stick with Warren.  Eventually  
you'll probably either have to start doing him or he'll cut you loose.   
Or you could just come out of the closet — or someone other than me may find  
out anyway."  A shrug.**

**Her jaw set.  "Is that meant to be a threat?"**

**"What?"  Reviewing his statement, he caught the implication.  "Bets,  
if I was trying to blackmail you I'd come right out and *say* that I'll make  
an announcement at dinner tonight unless you agree to do this with me.   
I wouldn't hint around."**

**"I see."  Lips thinned.  Evidently she didn't believe him.**

**He sighed.  "Look, you can try it out, and if I'm lying to you or you  
just don't like the arrangement, you're free to ‘dump me.'  Say I was  
an ‘insensitive brute' or whatever — I'm sure everyone'll believe you."**

**She considered the matter.  He waited, leaning against the door.  
Finally, "All right.  On a trial basis, mind," she warned, rising from  
her chair.**

**He smiled.  "All right.  Should I take you somewhere tonight, or do you want to go give Feathers the bad news first?"**

**"Mmm.  I think — maybe we should try going out first.  Just to  
dinner.  I want to see how this goes before I burn my bridges."**

**"Okay.  Seven o'clock fine?"**

**"That should do nicely."  She headed for the door, and Logan stepped  
aside and started to open it.  Betsy halted him, placing one hand on  
the door to keep it closed.  "I just have to ask — are you gay?"**

**"What?!"  A pause while the question registered.  Betsy eyed him  
warily, perhaps expecting an explosion of some sort.  She got one.**

**Before the laughter made speech totally impossible, Logan managed to say,  
"No — that actually would have made things *less* complicated!"**

**"Excuse me?"**

**Explaining the joke would have required telling her about the reminder card  
for Marie's obstetrician's appointment hiding in his bedside table next to  
a small velvet box.  Logan quite justifiably chose to leave her wondering.  
**

*** * *  
  
**

*** * ***

****

**Late afternoon "personal self-defense training" with Logan was always a joy,  
even when they actually spent the time training rather than simply taking  
advantage of being alone together.  And since Logan had flatly refused  
to engage in physical combat with Marie in her current condition, the sessions  
were now nothing more than an excuse for unchaperoned time with each other.   
So Marie headed for the gym with more than her usual sense of anticipation.**

**When she got there, Logan met her with a gleeful expression that seemed to  
promise unexpected joys.  Leading her out of the building and into the  
woods (a favored site both for privacy and for training in "guerilla combat"),  
he found a well-known location on the shores of the lake.  Having maintained  
his silence until that point, he now turned to Marie.**

**"I think I just solved the Jean problem," he announced with a smirk.**

**"Really?"  His delight was infectious.  His expression and tone  
of voice implied that the solution was neat, efficient, and strongly appealed  
to his sense of humor.  Then Inner Logan reminded her of one of the  
potential responses to the situation, and Marie just had to ask, warily,  
"You didn't go claiming to have been using her to get to Scott, did you?"**

**"No, I didn't want to risk him actually taking me up on the offer.  
I got Betsy to agree to dump Feathers for *me* for the next few months."**

**"*WHAT*?!"**

**Logan looked puzzled, as though he couldn't imagine why this solution could  
be seen as anything less than perfect.  "Well, okay, she's going out  
with me tonight to test the waters, but I think I can get her to agree to  
give Tweety the bad news tomorrow."**

**"Why on *earth* would you do a thing like that?"**

**A blank look.  "Because I thought it would get Jean off my back quickest  
if I looked like I'd already shifted gears to someone else before she came  
after me?"**

**Marie gritted her teeth, struggling for patience. Because the thing about  
Logan, the sometimes endearing but occasionally maddening thing about him,  
was the way that eminently practical and intensely antisocialized personality  
took some fairly unique approaches to problem-solving.**

**But she wouldn't lose her temper at him.  Not yet.  Because he  
had a fair grasp of how people worked, regardless of his lack of interest  
in dealing with most of them — and he *had* to have realized that his girlfriend  
— no, *fiancé* — would have some strong objections to his seeing another  
woman.  There had to be factors in this that she just hadn't grasped  
yet.**

**Or else Logan was actually being dense for once.**

**"Okay, I can see that.  But why date Betsy?"**

**"Oh, we won't be dating.  Not really.  It's just going to *look* like we are."**

**"And why is Betsy willing to pretend to be your girlfriend?  And how is Warren going to take this?"**

**"Betsy's willing to pretend because it makes her look taken and I promised  
not to be trying to get into her pants the way Flyboy does — and I don't  
give a shit *how* he takes it.  In fact, I hope it really chaps his  
ass."**

**"And Betsy wants to look taken without actually sleeping with her boyfriend *because*...?"**

**A confused look.  "Because she's a dyke and doesn't want anyone else  
to know about it?"  As though it should have been patently obvious.**

**"Ah.  Of course," Marie said weakly.  It hadn't been obvious to  
*her*, but she didn't ask Logan how he knew.  She understood very well  
what his sources of information tended to be.  She just wished that  
his borrowed memories were more accessible to her own conscious recall, rather  
than being unexpected reactions to random stimuli or popping up uncontrollably  
in dreams.  "And does Betsy know why *you* want her to pretend to be  
your girl?"**

**He shifted a little, uncomfortably.  "I just told her that my life got  
‘really complicated' lately, and I needed to look like I had a girlfriend  
without actually having one.  I'm not planning to tell her about us  
unless I have to."**

**Marie sighed.  "Is that going to be enough for her, though?"**

**He shrugged.  "I hope so.  If not, well, after Jean's off my back I can live with ‘breaking up with' Bets."**

**Reluctantly, "Or I guess we *could* risk telling her. *If* she seems trustworthy.  
And given that we already know something about her she doesn't want anyone  
else to know.  It sort of evens out."**

**"Maybe.  If she seems like she'd take it the right way.  But it's  
not like we have to keep things under wraps for that much longer..."   
Accepting her suggestion and dismissing the subject all at once.**

**"No.  And I for one am glad..."  She took a few steps forward,  
reaching Logan where he stood at the edge of the clearing and putting her  
arms around his neck.  "Because I'm really getting sick of all this  
pretending."**

**"You and me both, baby," Logan murmured, wrapping his arms around her and  
pulling her that last half-step to press herself against him.  
**

*** * *  
  
**

*** * ***

****

**[Why the hell are you doing this, Bets?]**

**Betsy Braddock rummaged absently through one of many jewelry boxes, searching  
for the match to the onyx earring currently dangling from her left earlobe.   
Finding it, she met her own eyes in the mirror. [I'll tell you why.   
Because the man too hard for bullets, bombs or booze to take down has his  
finger right on the biggest secret you have from these people — and after  
what you've seen out there, you're willing to put up with a *lot* rather  
than risk losing this sanctuary.] Sighing, she put on the earring.**

**It had been a confusing afternoon.  In the wake of that odd interview  
with Logan, she'd changed her mind half a dozen times about how to handle  
the situation.  Tell Logan that she didn't know what game he was playing,  
but she'd rather not play it with him, thank you very much?  Tell Warren  
that Logan had asked her to dinner and let *him* deal with it?  Play  
along with Logan on the off-chance that he was actually telling her the truth  
and might turn out to be a more convenient "boyfriend" than Warren?**

**In the end, what she came around to was the same damnably wavering response  
that she'd ended their conversation with — a single "date," to test the waters  
and perhaps even to verify or disprove his promise not to make any genuine  
plays for her affections. **

**She wouldn't give an unqualified yes — because so far Warren seemed a highly  
satisfactory boyfriend (aside from those attempts to add a more physical  
dimension to their relationship, which he was politely allowing her to postpone  
for the moment), and a change to Logan might not be for the better. **

**She wouldn't go to Warren (yet) — because letting him know that Logan had  
made a pass at her would have easily foreseeable and highly unpleasant consequences.  
(Were she to break with the Angel — well, she'd cross that bridge when she  
came to it.)**

**She wouldn't give Logan an outright no — because ever since that horror-show  
first meeting, Logan had made her nervous — the more so when she learned  
how deadly a martial artist he was, and most of all because he was so nearly  
unreadable to her telepathy.  She very much preferred staying on his  
good side (if such a thing existed — though his friendly relations with certain  
of the students and X-Men seemed to indicate that it did).**

**But she *would* go on this one date.  Tonight was about stalling for  
time before she made a decision, about getting a better feel for what he  
was truly asking of her, and perhaps even about learning *why* he was asking  
her to do this — because Lord help her, she was curious.  Logan's thoughts  
were barred to her, his words few but sometimes startling, and his actions  
(as today had proved) utterly unpredictable. She couldn't even accurately  
assess from this morning's conversation whether his offer was genuine or  
a highly inventive sexual ploy.  Sheer self-preservation impelled her  
to study this rare and dangerous beastie that she found herself living in  
close proximity to.  Curiosity was the finishing touch.**

**Nodding to herself in the mirror, she pronounced her ensemble complete even as the knock came at the door.  
**

*** * *  
  
**

*** * ***

****

**"Well?"  Right when he came through the door.**

**"Well what?"  Hanging up his jacket.**

**[Well, at least he didn't tell me, "That's a deep subject,"] Marie sighed.  "How did your ‘date' with Psylocke go?"**

**Logan shrugged.  "No arrests.  Minimal bloodshed."**

**"So is she going to go for it, or did she blow you off?" [Am I going to actually have *competition*?]**

**He got a thoughtful look on his face.  "Think so.  Think I managed  
to get her convinced this isn't a real creative way of getting her on her  
back, at least."**

**"You didn't decide to *tell* her, did you?" [Without consulting *me*?!]**

**[All this time keeping quiet with the people we trust the most, and you think  
I'd go unloading on a near-stranger?] Inner Logan griped.**

**"No.  I don't know her well enough for that yet, anyway."**

**Relief.  "Good.  So...  What did you talk about?"**

**Another of those shrugs.  "Stuff."**

**"Such as?"**

**"I don't know.  Sports.  How bad American beer is.  She made  
opera-related threats, but I think she was only kidding.  I hope.   
Her family back in England.  What a fucking pain in the ass it is trying  
to look pretty as a career — she was pretty explicit on that one, actually."   
He gave Marie an amused eyebrow in response to her giggle.  "I think  
this could work out."**

**"It only has to work out for a few months," she reminded. [Don't go getting *too* comfortable with her!]**

**"Right.  But I think it will.  And at least *she* isn't trying to climb into bed with *me*."  An ironic tone.**

**It took Marie a minute to catch his implication that *her* pseudo-boyfriend  
was trying to nail *her* — still edgy at the idea of Logan escorting a former  
model around (lesbian or not), for a moment she interpreted the flip side  
of his statement as being that Logan was indeed trying to climb into bed  
with Betsy.  "Right," she agreed, belatedly.**

**He gave her an amused look, catching the pause.  "Not fun seeing your  
guy out with another girl, is it?"  He was mature enough to refrain  
from hammering his point home with a, "See how *I've* been feeling?"**

**She sighed.  "I know it's fair, but I still hate it."**

**"I know."**

**She chose not to ask if the smug tone was because he was flattered by her  
possessiveness, or enjoying the slight payback for all the months of standing  
by watching Remy put the moves on her.**

**[Both, I think,] Subliminal Logan suggested.  
**

*** * *  
  
**

*** * ***

****

**"I'm telling you, the man is *gay*!"**

**It was an arresting statement on several levels.  Logan halted in his  
course to the kitchen, not wanting to interrupt the gossip session in progress  
— at least, not until he'd satisfied his curiosity.**

**Oh, sure, if cornered he'd justify his tendency towards shameless eavesdropping  
as an outgrowth of his customary paranoia — information gathering from all  
available sources, if you will.  But, truthfully, he was just inquisitive  
as hell.**

**And a second later, paranoia _vs._ snoopiness was forgotten as his "girlfriend"  
responded to *her* girlfriend's declaration.  "I seriously doubt it,  
Dani.  I don't know *why* Logan finds this charade to be desirable,  
but I don't think it's because he's a ponce."**

**Logan happily seated himself on the floor in the hallway several yards down  
from the kitchen, beer forgotten.  This conversation had just gone from  
interesting to fascinating — no *way* he was interrupting it until they were  
done!**

**Things got even better, as a third voice entered the discussion.  "I  
just don't know.  I would have been willing to swear that Logan is straight  
— but then, up until a few weeks ago I was just as sure that he was — well,  
maybe not *in love* with me, but *extremely* interested.  So now I don't  
know *what* to think about him."  Jean sounded genuinely baffled.**

**Oh, this was good — this was *very* good.  The two or three gals in  
the best positions to know he had a big secret in his love life — and here  
they were comparing *notes*!  It was pretty goddamned lucky that he'd  
come along at the right place and time to overhear the debate — if his luck  
held true, they might even give him a few ideas for how to steer the lot  
of them away from the truth.**

**"That's gotta be it, Bets — as soon as he showed up here he latched onto  
the one woman least likely to say ‘yes' to him — and as soon as she *did*  
say it, he started shoving her back at her boyfriend, then turned around  
and got a lesbian to pretend to be his girl.  I mean, have either of  
you ever *seen* him with a woman?  That you knew he was sleeping with,  
I mean?"**

**Jean objected delicately.  "Logan tends to conduct most of his affairs  
away from the school.  There are children present, and this isn't a  
motel..."**

**"Exactly.  So how do we know they're actually with *women*?"**

**Jean merely sighed, but Betsy had more to say on the subject.  "We know because I asked him if he was gay."**

**"What?!"  News to Jean...**

**...But not to Dani.  "Yeah, and he said he wasn't — but if he's going  
to all this trouble to stay in the closet, he's not going to come right out  
and admit he's gay if someone asks him."**

**"I actually considered that, Dani, but for one thing."  Significant  
pause.  "When I asked him, he didn't seem at all defensive or offended  
at the idea.  He actually laughed and said it would have made his love  
life less complicated if he were."**

**Logan sighed a little, silently. [I wonder if I'd have been better off claiming to have a thing for Scooter after all...]**

**"Okay, *what* is he doing that fucking other men would be *simpler*?  
Is he a serial killer?  Doing one of the Brotherhood?  Does he  
like sheep?  What?"  Dani was miffed, probably at the dismissal  
of her pet theory.**

**Logan put a hand over his mouth, muffling what came suspiciously close to giggles.**

**"I don't think he's a killer — well, okay, he *is*, but not a *serial* killer.  And he can't stand the Brotherhood."**

**Logan couldn't help but note that Jean hadn't expressed an opinion on the sheep question.  The giggles grew worse.**

**"You know what *I* think?"  Betsy's voice had lowered, and Logan attempted  
to suppress his mirth to listen better.  All laughter died at her next  
words.  "I think it's one of those girls he hangs around with."**

**[Oh, damn.  Oh, *fuck*.  That's what I get for letting a fucking *telepath* know I‘ve got a secret...]**

**"I doubt it.  We were worried about it when he started taking students  
off on pickups, so the Professor started keeping an eye on him with Cerebro.   
Nothing happened."**

**The initial gratitude at the unexpected defense from Jean was washed away  
by the horror at the matter-of-fact admittance that he had been spied upon.   
He couldn't argue that they hadn't been justified — after all, he *had* been  
carrying an underaged girl across state lines for felonious sex — but learning  
after the fact how close they had come to discovery was mind-numbing. [How  
the HELL did they manage to snoop on me and *not* catch me with Marie...?]**

**"Really?  Do you still watch him, or did you decide he was behaving  
himself and leave him alone after that?"  Betsy sounded intrigued.**

**"Well, we — after a few months, we quite worrying, so we left him his privacy  
after that — aside from a few random checks."  Jean sounded uncomfortable.**

**[Oh, sure, be guilty that you *stopped* snooping on me, and never *mind*  
whether you had any right to watch me in the first place,] a snarky corner  
of his mind griped, mostly silenced by his own sense of culpability.**

**"So he could have taken his time about moving in on her — lulled every one's  
suspicions, like.  He's not thick — he'd *have* to know you'd be watching  
him with those girls."**

**"...Could be."  Jean sounded unnerved.**

**Logan was equally unnerved. [Damn.  Looks like Marie and I are going to have to behave ourselves for a while!  Shit.]**

**"Which girl do you think it is?  Or has he got more than one of them?"  Dani seemed taken by the idea.**

**"Mmm...  I can't see him managing to juggle a bunch of teenagers right  
under each other's noses — unless he's *much* smoother than I'd given him  
credit for.  That's more Remy's trick, I'd imagine."**

**[That fucking Cajun...]**

**"It *would* be complicated, though — and we're looking for complicated," Jean offered.**

**"True, but I'm thinking that an underaged girl on the premises of a school  
packed with telepaths and empaths is complicated enough."**

**"So which one?" Dani asked again.**

**"I would have to say Jubilee."**

**Logan relaxed.**

**"No.  She was the one we were worried about.  We watched him with  
her even after we quit worrying about the others."  Jean sounded positive.**

**Another piece of the puzzle fell into place.  [They were watching me  
more with some girls than others?  And Marie is "untouchable," so...   
Okay, *that's* how they missed us...]**

**"I'm going to say Kitty.  There was something off about her breakup  
with Peter, now that I think about it.  It wouldn't surprise me at all  
if she'd gotten involved with someone else at that point."**

**Logan smirked, unseen in the darkness. [Kurt, pal, I owe you one...]**

**"Okay, *you* say Kitty and *you * say Jubilee.  I *still* think he's  
gay.  I mean, he didn't even *try* to nail you, Betsy!  For all  
we know, he could be doing Sam, or St John.  Or Bobby."**

**Logan nearly lost it at Dani's list of possible lovers.  Okay, St John  
had required some fending off, and Bobby was doing a really half-assed job  
of staying in that closet — but *Sam*?  Sam wanted a *dad*, not a boyfriend  
— when Logan went down to Kentucky to fetch Sam's little sister Paige, the  
boy had been transparent in his hopes that Logan would hit it off with his  
widowed mother.  Shoulders quivering with suppressed chuckles, Logan  
eagerly awaited the next installment.**

**"What is this, a *bet*?"**

**"Guess so."  Dani was willing to put her money where her mouth was.**

**"What are the stakes?  Money, dinner somewhere, what?"  Jean was in.**

**"Let's say, dinner for three at [INSERT NYC RESTAURANT], losers to split the bill for the winner."**

**"And if we're all wrong?"  Well, at least Dani was willing to entertain the possibility. (She was right, too.)**

**"If we're all wrong, we're all losers, so everyone pays for her own share," Bets said crisply.**

**"I'm in.  How do we settle this?"**

**"Just go ask him?"  Dani was willing to outdo her lover in bluntness.**

**[Oh geeze, *that* could get interesting...  "Okay, Logan, what's the  
story?  Who are you fucking that you don't want everyone to know about?"   
"Sheep.  And golden retrievers on the side."]**

**"No, since your own bet includes the supposition that he'll lie in response  
to a direct question about his romantic inclinations."  Betsy was not  
going to forget that her assessment of Logan's veracity had been called into  
question.**

**"I don't think that using Cerebro would be a good idea.  Not to settle a *bet,* anyway."**

**[*Thank* you, Jeannie!]**

**"We watch, and we wait.  It's going to come out sooner or later — maybe sooner."**

**"Why do you say that, Babe?"**

**"Because Logan only asked me to pose as his lover for a few months — three  
at most, he said.  And that was about a month ago..."**

**The best part of the conversation seemed to be over.  Logan had a devilish  
impulse to walk into the kitchen, casually grab a few beers from the fridge,  
and on the way out tell the startled trio, "By the way, you *all* lose."**

**Suppressing the urge, he rose to his feet.  Deciding to forego the beer  
for tonight, he turned to head back up to his room — and almost ran into  
Storm.**

**Seeing the question being formed, he silenced her with a finger to his lips before she could voice it, then walked away.**

**He was still chuckling to himself as he reached the stairs.  
**

*** * ***


	3. Ensuing Complications (part 3)

*** * ***

****  
Ororo watched Logan go, wondering why he had been sitting in a darkened hallway  
giggling to himself.  Which was when she heard Jean's voice coming from  
the kitchen.

"So we're expecting our answer, say, two months from now?"

Storm's hearing was much better than that of a "normal" human — not *quite*  
as good as Logan's, but sharp enough to clearly make out the conversation  
down the hall.  Which she realized meant that Logan had no doubt been  
sitting there eavesdropping.  Curiosity engaged, she headed for the  
kitchen.

"Guess so.  But what happens if we *don't* know by then?"

Ororo entered the room in time to respond to Dani's question.  "Don't  
know *what* by then?"  She had nearly asked why Logan had found their  
discussion so amusing, but the memory of his signal for silence led her to  
hold her peace for the moment.

Bets and Dani looked taken aback, but Jean didn't mind adding Ro to the gossip  
session.  "We're betting on why Logan turned me down when I gave him  
a chance and talked Betsy into posing as his lover."  

Appreciating the way Jean had deliberately left out the reason why she had  
felt compelled to play along, Bets amplified on the remark.  "Dani thinks  
he's gay, I think he's been up to something naughty with Jubilee.  Jean  
says it's Kitty."

"We're betting on it.  Once we know what it is, we all go out to RESTAURANT  
and the losers split the winner's bill," Dani added.

"Hmm."  Ororo considered this as she pulled a mug out of the cabinet.   
Not much got past her — for example, she had actually known about Betsy and  
Dani's relationship, though not that Logan's relationship with Bets was an  
outright sham.  And she had previously inferred from what Jean did and  
did not say about her argument with Scott that an attempt to satisfy the  
long-held curiosity about Logan's bedroom abilities had not worked out as  
hoped for.  Putting the facts together, along with the suppositions  
offered, Ororo remembered a few things not mentioned by the others.

"In that case, I will have to say Rogue, if only because the three of you  
have taken the other obvious answers." [And because it would explain why  
Logan so hates seeing Remy with her.]

"All right.  So getting back to my question — if Logan's little secret  
*doesn't* go public in a couple of months, then what do we do?"

Jean looked thoughtful.  "I just realized — graduation is in two months.   
If it *is* one of the girls, could be that he thinks they can go public then."

"And if they don't?"

"If they don't, then we don't find out."  Bets shrugged.  "We can  
go out anyway, and everyone foots her own bill.  Celebrate the end of  
the school year."

"In that case, may I suggest the week after graduation?"  Ro poured some coffee over her sugar.

"Maybe Wednesday night — restaurants tend to be slow then.  Not on a weekend."

Betsy and Dani nodded in agreement.

"Wednesday after graduation it is." [And I don't think I'll be helping to  
pay for anyone else's dinner...  INSERT COMMENT ABOUT RESTAURANT]

*** * *  
  
**

*** * ***

****  
It had to happen sooner or later, and Logan was expecting it sooner.  
Whatever the true facts of the matter, Remy would feel as though the other  
man had eloped with *his* girl — and being the kind of man to leap to the  
attack whenever threatened, Gambit would be bound to confront Wolverine on  
the matter.

Logan couldn't have been farther from non-confrontational himself.   
After the constraints of the past year that had forced him to let certain  
matters slide where the Cajun was concerned, he was beyond ready for open  
warfare to be declared.  So when LeBeau found him in the rec room —  
sparsely populated for once, at this hour of the morning on a Wednesday —  
he could barely contain his glee.

Taking up a hipshot stance a few steps into the room, Gambit folded his arms  
and glared.  The odd red-and-black eyes lent themselves well to a forbidding  
stare, as did the height, but Logan was unimpressed.  "You got somethin'  
on your mind, kid?"  He took an elaborately casual swig of beer, not  
bothering to keep his eyes on Remy after that first brief glance.  Refusing  
to watch him with the attention that a genuine threat would deserve, or to  
notice what a strikingly imposing figure Gumbo probably hoped he appeared  
to be.  Refusing to even dignify him with shared adult status.

A few seconds for the various insults to register, before LeBeau responded.   
"Yeah, I ‘got something on my mind.'  Rogue."

Almost sneering, "And what does *my wife* have to do with *you*?"  Because  
Logan knew where Gambit's sensitive spots were, oh yes, and he was going  
to be hitting them good and hard.  The gloves, as Marie was fond of  
saying, were finally off...

"She was *my girl* before *you* ran off wit' her, and I don' give up that easy."

A snort of disdain and amusement.  "She was never ‘your girl' — she  
just let you take her out because half the damned school was throwing you  
at her, and you were too goddamn thickheaded to get the point when she tried  
to get rid of you." [And every damn word of it is true, Gumbo, and I've been  
waiting a *long* time to shove your face in it.]

From the muscle that jumped in Remy's jaw, a nerve — or several — had been  
struck.  "She wasn't trying *that* hard to get rid of me.  And  
she damned sure seemed to be enjoying herself when she was out with me."   
A pause, before shifting to an ominous and insinuating tone.  "She seemed  
to be enjoying herself *quite a bit*..."

[Oh, so now you're trying to make me think you actually had something going  
with her?  Try again, bub — that one won't fly...] "If she was enjoying  
herself so much with you, how come she never let you past second base in  
almost a year of ‘dating'?"  He managed to pronounce the word so that  
the quotation marks were audible.

Remy's eyes flashed — another point to Logan — before he readied his next  
volley.  "What makes you think she and I never went that far?"

[A better try — still the wrong tactic, but a better try.] "Because she used  
to come sneakin' into my bedroom after the end of every one of your ‘dates.'   
Still in the slinky outfits her roommates made her wear for you," he added,  
because every reference to Rogue being pressured to date Gambit was another  
blow to the Cajun's ego, "and your scent was never *under* the clothes, either.   
I *know* you never got anywhere important with her."  Logan raised his  
bottle again, letting the other man mull over that for a bit. [With any luck,  
he's thinking about all those nights he spent trying to show Marie that he  
was the best thing to ever come along for her, and after all that heavy-duty  
dancing and romancing she was giving him the brushoff and climbing into bed  
with me...  Damned if it didn't make the whole farce almost tolerable  
sometimes.]

LeBeau looked almost shaken.  "You *can't* expect me to believe that — not after *every* date!"

Logan grinned.  "You don't believe me, ask her roommates.  Hell,  
they were helping her sneak out — they thought she was going back out to  
meet up with *you* after curfew..."  Gambit looked a little sick at  
that one, which raised an old question — had Kitty or Jubes ever let something  
slip to the Cajun about the late-night assignations they had assumed he was  
having with Rogue?  He had clearly never been blatantly confronted with  
the news that Marie's roommates thought she was meeting up with him late  
at night for hours at a time after curfew, when he had in fact already parted  
company with her for the evening — but possibly a few puzzling comments had  
been dropped at one time or another...

Making Gumbo look sick was fun in and of itself, but it wasn't enough to  
satisfy the Wolverine.  The beast wanted blood.  So, time for a  
new strike.  And, just in case Remy ever recovered enough to make another  
attempt at an offensive, best limit his available targets.  "Course,  
I never would have agreed to play along with letting Marie pretend to date  
you if I thought anything might ever really come of it.  I mean, what  
was the worst that could have happened if our cover got blown early?   
Maybe Chuckie and Scooter would have pitched a fit, or maybe her parents  
would have yanked her back home.  So I could have followed her back  
to Mississippi, or maybe we would have just hit the road together.   
You were just less of a pain in the ass to deal with."  An actual lie  
in there — a big one.  Had it been up to Logan, the game would have  
been up long before.  But, it was *Marie's* parents they were ducking,  
and *Marie's* education they were holding out to complete, and so Logan had  
left the decision-making up to her on this one...

Fortunately, Gambit didn't seem to have detected the falsehood.  But  
he wasn't reacting quite the way the Wolverine wanted, either.  It was  
time to up the ante.

"By the way, did either of us ever tell you how much we appreciated your  
little Valentine's Day present?"  A slight pause, for LeBeau to remember  
the teddy, a delicately cut scrap of lace and satin in a cherry red appropriate  
to the holiday.  "Kind of a bold gift to be givin' a girl you weren't  
even sharin' a bed with — especially when you told her you'd like to see  
her in it some time."

He gave Remy a look to check his reaction, letting the kid see his amusement.   
The pale face was good, the clenching fists were better yet.  Logan  
refused to look at Gumbo again, not wanting to betray how much attention  
he was actually paying to the other man's growing tension.  He could  
hear LeBeau's breathing and heartbeat just fine from where he was — almost  
as good as expression and body language under the circumstances. [Come on,  
you know you want to...]

"Hell of a lot better gift than the one *I* gave her — just some chocolate  
or something."  Pause for effect, then the followup, "Then again, I'd  
just dropped a fair bit of cash taking her out ring-shopping the weekend  
before, and out to dinner somewhere real fancy afterwards.  So I was  
kind of tapped out." [That's right, bub — it was *after* she and I had set  
the date that you went giving her those kinky undies.  And how does  
*that* make you feel?]

Evidently it wasn't quite enough to get the response he was trying for.   
So, to add fuel to the fire, "Almost a shame you never got to see her in  
it.  She looked *damned* good.  Though it doesn't look quite so  
pretty now..."  Thoughtfully, as though considering the matter, "Funny  
— you'd think Fredericks of Hollywood of all places would have made underwear  
that didn't tear up when you take it off with your teeth..."

That was what finally did it.  Logan heard it when Remy snapped and  
lunged.  He didn't bother to look around at the younger man. [Even Gumbo  
probably isn't dumb enough to give me this kind of a chance more than once.   
It'll be a one shot deal — better make the most of it...]

It was a good hit, connecting solidly with Logan's jaw.  He rolled with  
it, then slowly swiveled his head around to face Remy.

Gambit actually backed up a step at the look on the other man's face.   
It was a smile, and not at all a friendly one.  It also wasn't entirely  
Logan doing the smiling.  The Wolverine was coming to the fore, lured  
by the promise of impending violence, and the man was letting the beast shine  
through in his eyes.  It offered pain, and blood, and took great joy  
at the prospect.  Logan saw the alarm blossoming in the red-and-black  
eyes, as the warnings screaming from his hindbrain finally reached the attention  
of the centers of more complex thought.  Perhaps he was dimly beginning  
to realize that he was facing an animal that wanted nothing more at that  
moment than to splatter him across wood paneling and tasteful furnishings  
in a nightmarish Pollock, and a man holding the beast's leash that had gotten  
very tired indeed of keeping the monster to heel.

Tired — but still mindful of the consequences.  People would object  
to the casual murder of a fellow X-Man — teammembers, traumatized students,  
Chuckie, and most importantly Marie.  There were a few witnesses, at  
the other end of the room — too far to have heard the conversation, but undoubtedly  
about to be attracted to the scene by the outbreak of violence.  This  
would have to be short and oh-so-bloody-sweet.  Logan rose to his feet,  
in a smooth rapid movement that nonetheless seemed to Remy to take an eternity.

"Just so everybody's clear on this — *you* threw the first punch..."

The smile — if it could really be termed that — widened.

*** * *  
  
**

*** * ***

****  
"*What the HELL did you think you were doing*?!"

[Hmmph.  Scooter's actually pacing.  He really *must* be pissed.]  
By contrast, Logan was in a fairly laid-back mood.  One of many benefits  
of violence — the ability to not only relieve stress but to directly deal  
with the person causing the stress in the first place.  Sometimes permanently.   
Logan had been wanting to pound the shit out of Gambit for nearly a year,  
and it had almost been worth the wait.  Not even Cyke's irate reaction  
was dampening his good mood — if anything, it was improving it.  "He  
*started* the fight — I just finished it," he pointed out, crossing his arms  
and leaning back in his chair contentedly.

Scott didn't argue the point, although he looked like he wanted to.   
Hank, Kurt and Peter had all agreed — once they got done pulling Logan off  
of Remy and the questioning began — that Remy *had* been the one to escalate  
the "discussion" into a fistfight.  "Self-defense is one thing — putting  
*another teammember* into the Medlab is another.  You *teach* physical  
combat here, you *know* you can wipe the floor with most of us in a fight,  
you didn't have to prove it like *that*."

Logan gave him a measuring look.  "Guess I did, if Gumbo was dumb enough to go starting a fight with me..."

Whatever Cyclops might have come up with in response was lost, since at that moment the door to Xavier's office slammed open.

"Logan, what the HELL did you do to Remy?!"

[Uh-oh.] Scooter's reaction didn't bother him.  Chuckie didn't worry  
him too much, either. *Marie*, though...  "Nothing *permanent*..."

"I'm sure he'll find that very comforting once he wakes up and finds out  
his jaw's wired shut."  Rogue set her hands on her hips and glared at  
her husband.

Logan shifted a little in his chair.  "He started the fight..."  Even he knew that he sounded almost whiny.

"And what did you say to him to *make* him start it?"

[Damn.  Knew I wouldn't be able to slip it past her.]

Without waiting for a reply, she held out her hand, walking towards him.  

He briefly wondered if he'd be better off refusing, before realizing that  
he'd rather drop the entire truth in Marie's lap to be sifted through than  
to have go through the whole thing out loud in front of Cyke.  Sighing  
quietly, he took her hand and let her take what she wanted.  With the  
whole argument and fight being the current topics of discussion, the thoughts  
she was after were right in the forefront of his mind.

"Oh, Logan, you didn't," she murmured unhappily, ending the trickle of thought without releasing his hand.

"Didn't what?  If he did something to start the fight deliberately —  
" Cyke attempted to elbow his way in and regain control of the interrogation.

"Put a sock in it, Scooter!  I'm handling it!" Marie snarled.   
She disliked being interrupted before new memories had a chance to settle  
at the best of times, and having Cyclops trying to get authoritative when  
she had a fresh influx of Logan was not the best of times.

Scott actually took a step back, startled at her reaction.  She turned  
back to Logan.  "Poor baby."  Whether she meant her husband or  
her would-be boyfriend was open to interpretation.  "What a mess.   
At least maybe he'll finally get the point and leave me alone."  Cyclops  
looked confused — probably he'd been expecting Marie to help him chew Logan  
out, given her entrance.  The shift to sympathy had caught him off guard.

Encouraged by her softened mood, Logan asked, "He really had his jaw wired shut?"

"Mm-hmm.  You broke it in three places.  Maybe you didn't have to hit him *quite* so hard?"

"Indeed."  The Professor announced his entrance in a rather frigid tone.   
"I'm sure you and Remy have your — *differences*, Logan, but hospitalizing  
someone due to a *disagreement* is *NOT* acceptable."

Logan turned in his chair to meet Xavier's forbidding glare, not at all quelled.   
Marie was on his side — or at least not against him — and that was the most  
important thing.  "Oh, I don't know.  At least I didn't cut him  
up any..."  He smirked.

Xavier stiffened in his chair, and judging by the intake of breath Scooter  
was having a similar reaction behind Logan and Marie's backs.  "Logan,  
this is not a joke — "

"No, it's not," Logan cut in.  Despite his words, the smile remained.   
"This is the guy who's been trying to get my girl — my *fiancee* — into bed  
for the past year, and none of *you people* — " the entire X-Crew being liberally  
and impartially heaped with his scorn " — have been doing a goddamn thing  
to help the situation.  He didn't know any better, and neither did any  
of you, and that's why I never called him on it."  The smile remained,  
but the Wolverine was beginning to show, shifting the expression from almost  
playful to a darker humor.  "But when we showed up back here Monday  
and let everyone finally know, ‘That's it, we're married,' he should have  
stopped.  He goddamn well should *not* have come getting into my face  
because he's pissed he never got to fuck *my wife*, and he's fucking well  
lucky that *all* I did was hit him, when what I *wanted* to do was feed him  
his own balls before I ripped his lungs out."  Turning in his chair  
to meet Scott's eyes, he added, "And don't you *dare* accuse me of a lack  
of restraint.  I didn't kill him, I didn't do any permanent damage,  
and I didn't even touch him until *he* turned it into a fight.  He'll  
get out of the Medlab and be just *fine*, and if he's got half a brain in  
his head then he'll have learned to keep his fucking distance."  The  
smile hadn't wavered, but enough of the Wolverine had reached the surface  
to bring a baleful gleam to Logan's eyes — a sort of serial-killer glee.

Scott froze, and Charles was giving Logan a wary look.  The mood in  
the room had shifted, as the two other men were once again sharply reminded  
that the Wolverine had a much more pragmatic and well-accustomed view of  
deadly violence than either of them.

Responding to the darker turn of the conversation and the sudden silence,  
Marie released Logan's hand and settled herself into his lap, hooking her  
knees over the arm of the chair and wrapping one arm around his shoulders.   
He tucked his arms about her waist and she rubbed one of them soothingly,  
while resuming the conversation herself.  "I really never meant Remy  
to get dragged so far into this.  I only went out with him because my  
roommates bullied me into it, and I kept thinking I'd be able to dump him  
or get him to lose interest."

"Lot of luck *there*," Logan grumbled, leaning his head into Marie's shoulder.   
There he'd been in such a good mood, and Chuckie and Scooter had to go making  
him go over the whole Gumbo thing and get all worked up again...

"Not that I had a lot of help whenever I *tried* to break up with him," Rogue  
added, turning to glare meaningfully at Cyclops for a moment.

"No, you guys just *had* to hook the two of them up, didn't you?" Logan snarled.   
"And then come getting in my face whenever I tried to ‘interfere'..."

"Shh."  Marie shifted her hand from running along his arm to ruffling  
his hair.  "No one's ‘interfering' now, and no one's going to be throwing  
me at Remy anymore."  She caught the Professor watching the pair of  
them thoughtfully, and absently wondered whether he was reevaluating their  
suitability as a couple or merely assessing her ability to calm her husband  
when necessary.  Didn't matter.  They were together now, and there  
was nothing anyone else could do to tear them apart.

Logan grumbled a little, a sound identified by long experience as indicating  
that he was still cranky but in an improving mood.  "Can we go now?"  
he asked suddenly, raising his head.  "Or am I still being bitched at?"

Charles raised an eyebrow.  "So long as there are no further ‘incidents' of this type..."

Logan shrugged.  "He doesn't start a fight, there won't *be* a fight.   
He doesn't get in my face, I won't get in his.  He leaves Marie the  
hell alone, no problem."

"And if he doesn't, the next time I may deck him myself," Rogue added, more  
for Logan's benefit than anything else.  He chuckled and tightened his  
grip around her waist for a minute, and she considered herself rewarded.

The Professor chose to accept that as a conditional victory.  "I'll  
have a word with him once he's able.  Let's hope that we've heard the  
last of this..."

"Fine by me," Logan muttered.

"Same here," Marie echoed.  They disentangled themselves from the chair  
and left, arms finding their way around waists as they walked out.

Scott came around to close the door behind them, turning to face Xavier.  "Well?"

Charles regarded him thoughtfully.  "I think that Logan has the capacity  
for a great deal more self-control than any of us have given him credit for  
— and that we should be deeply grateful that he has."

Scott shivered, remembering that smile.  


*** * ***

**  
**  
THUS ENDETH THIS TALE...


End file.
